Apollo Hospitals on April 10 said it was the first centre in India to successfully perform a Transfemoral Pulmonary Valve
Implantation procedure.

It was a procedure performed by catheter insertion through a large vein in the groin (Femoral vein), called the  transfemoral approach, which does not require a surgical incision in the chest, using an Indian made valve. A 26-year-old woman came to hospital with symptoms of breathlessness. She was diagnosed to have Tetralogy of fallot (heart condition where there is a large hole in the heart and obstruction to the lung tube).

The patient had undergone couple of surgeries at her young age for surgical corrections of the condition and in 2009 she had surgical valve replacement following which she developed infective endocarditis of pulmonary valve. As the medical management failed she Underwent open heart surgery again for removal of infection and another valve replacement.

On further follow up at Apollo Hospitals, it was identified that she had developed progressive obstruction of the surgically implanted valve. Since the patient was concerned about her married life and pregnancy, a new
valve replacement was recommended by the doctors to prevent damage to the right sided pumping chamber.

Speaking about the procedure, Dr C S Muthukumaran, Interventional Cardiologist,  told reporters here that the patient had already undergone several surgeries since childhood and performing another surgery was considered high risk.
Transfemoral implantation, a non-surgical procedure, was the best solution. ''We have been only using imported valves for replacement surgeries so far. This is the first time we have used an Indian made valve called MYVAL manufactured by Meril Life sciences.

We used this valve in pulmonary (lung tube) position to help this young lady'', he said. The procedure was performed within 90 minutes and the patient was discharged in two days. This valve replacement procedure has transformed her life and she will not require open heart surgery going forward.