UAE: Patient who lost 90% of his heart function saved in complex surgery

At 38, Jai Singh Yadav — a non-smoker and a vegetarian — was shocked when he heard that only 10 per cent of his heart was functioning. Doctors first thought no surgery could treat him, but as they looked deeper into his case, they found a solution.

Singh, who works as a crane operator in the UAE, discovered that he had a heart condition when he suddenly felt a severe pain in his chest one day, as he returned home from work.

He was then rushed to a Dubai hospital where he had to undergo several tests that included an angiogram. Medics saw that Singh had no other risk factors, as he wasn’t smoking and he didn’t eat meat.

“Most probably this was because of his genes,” said Dr Girishchandra Varma, Head of Cardiac Surgery, NMC Specialty Hospital, Al Nahda, Dubai, who operated on him.

With an experience of over 30 years, Dr Varma and his team ultimately did a bypass surgery. “We did a coronary endarterectomy, and this is done on the beating heart only here in the UAE...in our unit,” he said.

“The cardiologist had assessed the patient, who came in with chest pain and difficulty in breathing. He was then admitted and they did an angiogram and a 2D echo test. In the angiogram, they found that he had extensive coronary artery disease and in the 2D echo they saw that his heart functions were only 10 per cent. So, the cardiologists were of the opinion that he is inoperable, and we could just give him medication and send him home,” Dr Varma recalled.