Centenarian gets new lease of life at PGIMER

A 103-year-old man got a new lease of life after a successful stenting procedure in Advanced Cardiac Centre of the Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education & Research (PGIMER) here, with the hospital claiming that he was the oldest patient in the history of the department and also one of the oldest in the world.

Talking about the case, Dr. Himanshu Gupta Asst. Professor in ACC, PGIMER who did the procedure, commented that the patient was admitted with the complaint of chest pain and breathlessness.

After investigations it was found that two of his heart vessels were critically blocked. Dr Gupta also stated that treatment of these kind of patients becomes very high risk and difficult as the blockages become very hard due to advanced age and because blood vessels are very friable.
He mentions special techniques and equipment’s are required to treat these kinds of blockages. He added that the kidney functions in this age group of patients is also compromised and extreme caution must be exerted while performing these kinds of cases. Department of Cardiology in PGIMER is very well equipped to handle all types of complex cases, commented HOD Prof Yashpaul Sharma who also was supervising the case.

Both Arteries were stented in same procedure. The patient did absolutely fine after the procedure and was discharged 2 days after the procedure with a very good cardiac function.

Prof. Yashpaul and Dr. Himanshu Gupta wanted to highlight this message that even very elderly patient can undergo safe angioplasty and hence we should not ignore the problems of very elderly patients and should have positive mind set to treat them.

(UNI)