Doctors at the Advanced Cardiac Institute (ACI) of Dr Bhimrao Ambedkar Hospital in Raipur have provided a new lease of life after operating on an 18-year-old myasthenia gravis-affected patient using plasmapheresis technique.
Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgeon and HoD of ACI, Dr. Krishna Kant Sahu, told reporters on Wednesday that Babita Yadav, from Bhilai, had to quit studies after Class 12 due to persistent fatigue, weakness and shortness of breath for nine long months.
Later, she had trouble even walking, eating, drinking and breathing.
For some days, her disease could not be diagnosed by local doctors. Then she consulted a Bhilai neurologist who told her she had a tumor in her chest above the heart due to which her muscles have become weak.
This disease is called myasthenia gravis or MG, he said.
Efforts were made to keep her muscles active by giving medicine to the patient but her weakness did not abate. Later, she was referred to ACI for surgery.
An operation was done two months ago in which the patient had to be kept on ventilator for 42 days. The patient was given five cycles of plasmapheresis for 10 days, Dr Sahu said.
This time, the strategy was changed and five cycles of plasmapheresis was used 15 days before the operation so that the patient does not have muscle weakness after the operation and also leaves the ventilator quickly.
After completion of five cycles of plasmapheresis after four days, Babita was taken for operation where a tumor weighing 500 gm above the heart was removed, he added.
It was a very complicated operation as the tumor was affixed to the aorta and main artery of the lung and the heart. The patient’s chest bone was opened from the middle and the tumor located above the heart during the surgery, the senior doctor said.
Now, the patient is healthy and she plans to pursue B.Com studies after taking admission in a college in the next session.