RECENT EVENTS » THIRD AORTIC SUMMIT - INTERNATIONAL MEETING ON LATEST TRENDS IN AORTIC ANEURYSM MANAGEMENT » 3rd and 4th OCT 2009

The Third Aortic Summit was once again held at MIOT Hospitals between October 3rd – 4th 2009. The meeting was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. P.V.A. Mohandas – Managing Director – MIOT Hospitals. Patients who underwent complex Aortic Aneurysm surgeries about 15 years back were felicitated in the meeting.

The meeting was attended by around 200 specialists and trainee doctors from the field of Cardiac surgery, Interventional Radiology, Vascular surgery and Cardiology. A two day program was done in which lectures were given by experts from India and abroad. The distinguished abroad faculties were

• Prof.Dr.Roberto Di Bartolomeo, Director – Dept of Cardiac Surgery, Almamater University of Bologna, Italy also shared his extensive experience in the treatment of aortic aneurysms. He also showed surgical video demonstration on his techniques and the new frozen elephant trunk procedure.

• Dr.Dmitri Apostolou, Vascular Surgeon – St. Cruce Hospital, Cueno, Northern Italy, also shared his experience in the usage of large diameter stents in the treatment of dissection.
  As part of the meeting, following live surgeries were also demonstrated

  • Valve sparing aortic root replacement.

  • Surgical Correction of Thoraco abdominal aneurysm in a post renal transplant patient.

• Bentall’s procedure
  The meeting was very interactive with active participation by delegates who shared their expertise and knowledge with each other.

MIOT’s experience in both surgical and endovascular stent grafting including hybrid procedures were presented in the meeting by Dr. V. V. Bashi, Chairman - Center for Thoracic and Cardio Vascular Care and Dr. K. Murali, Interventional Radiologist.

Press Meet

From left to right: Sister. Gladys, Mr. Varadharajan, Dr. Bashi. V.V, Dr. Roberto Di Bartolomeo, Mrs. Mallika Mohandas - Chairman, MIOT Hospitals, Dr. Murali, Dr. Sivakumar, Mrs. Meena Thomar, Mr. Lenin Tamilkovan and Mr. Manoj

Prior to the event, a Press Meet was conducted on 02nd Oct 2009 in order to create awareness amongst the public about Aneurysm and its treatments options.

Following is the gist of topics shared by Dr. V.V Bashi, Dr. Roberto Di Bartolomeo, Dr. Murali and Dr. Sivakumar with the press.

Aorta is the main artery, which takes blood to the whole body. Aneurysm of the aorta is a bulge caused by weakened areas in the wall of the aorta, which is the largest artery in body resulting in widening or ballooning to greater than 50% of normal diameter. Aneurysms can occur in the thoracic aorta (chest) and in the abdominal aorta. The commonest risk factors are smoking, high blood pressure, associated heart disease and congenital. Most of the aneurysms does not produce any symptoms. Sudden onset of pain associated with breathlessness, wheezing, cough, hoarseness of voice, difficulty in swallowing or shortness of breath occurs due to thoracic aneurysms. This can be diagnosed by a routine chest x-ray and other investigations like CT aortogram. Sometimes blood can enter in the wall of the aorta producing separation of the wall, which is called a dissecting aneurysm and is a medical emergency. Aneurysms in the abdomen maybe asymptomatic but can present with abdominal pain or back pain. Early diagnosis is very important to decide the nature of treatment. As per the extrapolated statistics from the US, as many as 6-7 Lakhs of people in India are suffering from aortic aneurysm and to my knowledge we are doing surgery or Endovascular stenting for only less than 500 patients per year. This itself shows lack of awareness and non-accessibility of diagnostic checkups.

We are conducting a two-day workshop to discuss the various developments in the treatment of aortic aneurysms. The treatment of aortic aneurysm is done by open surgery or by keyhole surgery. The open surgery was the only treatment till a few years ago, but recently, with the use of Endo graft, which can be introduced through a keyhole, this method is gaining popularity, as it is less traumatic to the patient. Open surgery involves, in some situations, stopping the heart and circulation and cooling below to 15C which is a major procedure. The success rate of open surgery for aortic aneurysm is 95% which was only 50-60% in olden days. Keyhole or Endovascular stenting is the latest development which involves less risk and minimal stay in the hospital.

MIOT is a leading centre in the country, which is offering this type of treatment for patients with aortic aneurysms. A team of cardiothoracic surgeons, interventional cardiologists and interventional radiologists are involved in the treatment. Lot of advancements occurred in Endovascular treatment recently. We have two doctors from Italy to share their experience in surgery and endovascular stenting during our meeting on 3rd and 4th October 2009. About 150 cardiologists, cardiothoracic surgeons and interventional cardiologists are gathering here to share their experience. There will be a demonstration of surgical and endovascular procedures. Dr. Robert Bartolomeo will be demonstrating a repair of the valve along with the aneurysm surgery which is a rare procedure.

Today, we have 5 patients with us who had undergone major open and endovascular procedure and living without any problems for many years. If treatment is given at appropriate time they can lead a normal and healthy life.

• Sr. Gladys – Ascending arch and descending aortic aneurysm – corrected by single stage surgery – 1999

• Mr. Varadharajan – 5 vessel CABG with ascending arch and descending thorax aneurysm repair – single stage in 2002

• Mr. Lenin Tamilkovan – correction of TOF, closure of muscular VSD, ASD, functioning Waterson’s shunt, replacement of root and ascending aorta in 2006.

• Mrs. Meena Tomar – Post renal transplant with arch and descending aortic aneurysm. Two stage hybribd procedure with arch debranching and endovascular grafting in 2009.

• Mr.Manoj - Redo Bentall’s operation for aneurysm of left coronary button following previous Bentall’s operation – under circulatory arrest in 2009.

Programme Schedule