Case Study
Challenging coronary angioplasty at Mitford Hospital
Inside the Coronary Care Unit of Mitfor Hospital
When 62 year old Mr Kabir Ahmed came to the Cardiology Department of Mitford Hospital, he was critically ill for recurrent attacks of severe chest pain for the last five months. During this period he went to different hospitals and did a coronary angiogram according to a doctor's advice to see whether the coronary artery (that carries blood to heart) is blocked or not. His coronary angiogram showed multiple blocks in dangerous sites of arteries for which surgery called CABG (Coronary Artery Bypass Graft) or PTCA (Percutaneous Trans-luminal Coronary Angioplasty) are the treatment options. Although surgery was a good option in this case, the patient who was also diabetic scared and refused to go under knife. Professor Dr Md Afzalur Rahman, Head of the Department of Cardiology of Mitford Hospital re-evaluated the patient with another angiogram and saw that coronary artery lesion worsen. It was realised that this case was very challenging for angioplasty rather than surgery. Prof Rahman took this challenging case and successfully treated the patient by implantation of two stents using an improved V-technique. V-technique is comparatively newer that requires certain special skill. This was the first case of PTCA with V-technique in this hospital that signals cardiology department is ready to flourish fully and to give quality and critical services to the poor better than previous time. Professor Rahman said, "Treatment of the case was a demonstration of our team effort and I feel happy that the patient went well under limited facilities of Mitford Hospital." "We will continue our efforts to give the best services at government level", he added. The department had been pioneering radial angiogram at regular basis for a long time before many government and high tech private hospitals in Bangladesh. Regarding the intervention, the patient Mr Ahmed said with a happy smile, "I don't have any chest pain now and I hope to go back into active life soon, thanks to the care in this hospital that serves poor people in the government set-up".
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