Coimbatore: Bypass surgery sans blood transfusion done in Kovai

Coimbatore: A 39-year-old male patient of Jehovah's Witnesses, who was diagnosed with 'non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction called NSTEMI, which is a type of heart attack, recently successfully underwent coronary bypass surgery without undergoing blood transfusion. 

The total arterial revascularisation procedure was performed on the patient without the use of leg veins at Sri Ramakrishna Hospital, the hospital said in a statement here on Friday. 

Cardiac catheterisation revealed that the patient suffered multi-vessel coronary artery disease for which coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedure was advised. Some centers refused to operate upon the 39-year-old man because of his refusal to undergo blood transfusion. 

At the Ramakrishna hospital, off-pump CABG was performed. “His anti-platelets were stopped five days prior to surgery and he underwent CABG under general anesthesia. Pre-operatively, 250 ml of autologous blood was collected in a blood bag. Bone wax was used after sternotomy to minimize bleeding. Bilateral internal mammary artery was harvested and two drains were placed. Post-operative bleeding was minimal and his course of recovery in the hospital was uneventful,” a source from the hospital said.