News & Events

Feb, 13th 2016,   Chennai: Kauvery  Hospital,   a   flag bearer for cutting edge medical procedures has added  Chronic  Total  Occlusion to its ever-growing repertoire of modern medical offerings.

Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO) is a procedure pioneered by cardiologists in Japan to open up long standing totally-blocked arteries and inserting drugeluting stents in patients. This is done mainly in patients who carry high risk for bypass surgery due to coexisting serious medical conditions and in patients with repeat blockages after bypass surgery.   It involves interventional methods like antegrade and retrograde stenting.

This highly complex procedure requires a  lot of skill and was developed based on cultural beliefs but is finding widespread acceptance due to its effectiveness.

Dr.  Damodaran,  Senior  Interventional  Cardiologist,  Kauvery  Hospital explained why this procedure was developed. In a number of cultures such as the Japanese culture, it is believed that the soul leaves the body once the heart is cut open.  CTO was developed to help patients in distress without infringing upon their cultural beliefs.  This treatment is a catheter-based interventional procedure and bypass surgery can be avoided.

While inaugurating the  IJCTO  Tamil  Nadu  Chapter Dr.  Surya  Prakash  Rao,  Director, IJCTO  (Indo-Japanese  Chronic  Total  Occlusion)  Club touched on the benefits of the procedure. With this method, a  Cardiologist can now perform this procedure even on a patient who has 100 percent blockage and calcification in the heart artery. What’s more, the patient can resume normal functioning within a matter of just two to three days.

On February 13th, Dr. Surya Prakash Rao, with a highly skilled and experienced cardiologists team of Kauvery Hospital performed CTO Angioplasty on six critically ill patients suffering from a 100% blocked heart condition using advanced techniques.

The complex,  day long procedures were telecast live to a  group of more than  100  Doctors from across the state.