Kochi doctors perform frozen elephant trunk procedure

• Shane Bernard Croner was admitted in a hospital in Colombo with central shearing chest pain and intractable hypertension

Doctors at a private hospital in Kochi, India have successfully performed a major and risky hybrid procedure, using a frozen elephant trunk (FET) stent-graft to save the life of a 59-year-old patient airlifted from Sri Lanka, The New Indian Express reported.   

Shane Bernard Croner was admitted in a hospital in Colombo with central shearing chest pain and intractable hypertension. Even after treatment, the patient, a native of Colombo, continued to have life-threatening and uncontrollable blood pressure.   

The CT scan images were shared with Dr. Rohith Nair, Consultant Interventional Radiologist, Aster Medcity in Kochi. On reviewing the CT images, doctors at Aster Medcity confirmed an aortic dissection, a serious condition in which the inner layer of the aorta, the largest artery in the body, tears. The dissection had also extended towards the heart, stopping just short of the coronary arteries.   

The procedure lasted for 14 hours and the vital organs including brain and kidneys were given blood supply through selective tubes placed into them during the procedure. All the vital organs recovered well after the surgery. The whole body was cooled to prevent damage during this long surgery (hypothermia technique).