UAE hospital saves life of expat with critical heart condition

Doctors perform complex surgery to rescue man in nick of time

by Dhanusha Gokulan

Published: Wed 27 Oct 2021, 6:37 PM

Last updated: Wed 27 Oct 2021, 6:50 PM

A 42-year-old Filipino expat's life was saved in the nick of time thanks to the prompt action taken by doctors at Zulekha Hospital in Sharjah.

Laurence Anthony was rushed to a hospital in Fujairah with chest pains and was diagnosed with recent-onset myocardial infarction NSTEMI.

From there, he was immediately transferred to a CATH lab and was diagnosed with three critical issues, each of which required immediate surgical intervention.

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The major cause of this complex disease is neglected hypertension and hypercholesteremia (high blood cholesterol level).

"He was diagnosed with having a critical coronary left main disease, a total block of the left anterior descending artery and diagonal and circumflex branches. The ascending aorta showed a huge dilatation and a tear in the aortic wall that divides the normal single lumen into two channels (a true and a false one) and this makes the aortic wall liable for rupture at any moment," explained a press release issued by the hospital.

Dr Mohamed Ahmed Helmy, professor and consultant of cardiac surgery said, "Operating upon such a patient involves very high risk with 20 per cent mortality and morbidity according to the STS American risk score, and the complex procedure required the patient to be transferred to a super speciality hospital."

He added, "Our CTVS team at Zulekha Hospital Sharjah is well experienced in dealing with similar cases and hence the patient was transferred by ambulance to our hospital ICU with prompt preparation and preoperative investigations in the form of laboratory and radiologically multislice CT Angio."

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"Laurence is married and has one daughter, and as a breadwinner, it was imperative to get him back on his feet," he added.

Dr Helmy planned to replace the ascending aorta, an aortic valve replacement and a CABG 3 bypass using LIMA to LAD (internal thoracic artery to the Left Anterior Descending artery) CABG 3 bypass. The surgery was successfully performed with smooth weaning from the cardiopulmonary bypass.

The patient was then transferred to the ICU. The first 24 hours was the most critical period. On the eighth postoperative day, the patient was weaned from the ventilator and the inotropes and discharged from the hospital.

Dr Helmy said, "Everyone must check their blood pressure and blood cholesterol regularly in patients above 40 years and in diabetic patients, and check earlier for those who have a positive family history."