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CHI undertakes first Salvage Angioplasty on Assistant Police Commissioner
Mr Balram Persaud (lying) is flanked by friends, from left Rohan Beeku, Dr Pratik Soni, John Tuliram and a police rank.
Another groundbreaking operation has been undertaken at the Caribbean Heart Institute (CHI) in a move that was crucial to save the life of yet another public figure.
Assistant Police Commissioner, Balram Persaud, on Tuesday became the candidate for a Salvage Angioplasty which was ably performed by Interventional Cardiologist, Dr Pratik Soni, at the Georgetown Hospital-based facility.
According to reports reaching this newspaper the senior police officer, was rushed to a private hospital on Sunday suffering from severe chest pains. Recognising that Persaud was suffering a heart attack, medical officials attempted to remove a blood clot which had blocked his coronary artery by using a drug referred to as ‘clot buster’.
This newspaper understands that Persaud was observed for 24 hours at the facility but his condition did not improve. In essence, the drug failed to work thus prompting the medical officials to refer him to CHI on Tuesday.
According to Dr Soni, an angiogram was immediately carried out on the patient and revealed that his artery was 100 percent blocked.
He disclosed during an interview with this newspaper that to perform an angioplasty in such a case is usually considered a high-risk operation. Nonetheless, the experienced Interventional Cardiologists hastened to perform the Salvage Angioplasty operation in a move characteristic of him implanting two stents into Persaud’s artery, a procedure that occurred in Guyana for the first time. It lasted for just under 13 minutes.
However, if a heart attack patient is rushed to the hospital from a distance location shortly after being given clot-busting drugs, the first treatment that is offered at CHI is a primary angioplasty.
“If the patient comes from Buxton or Corentyne with some drugs and the medicine doesn’t work and we do the angioplasty then it is called a facilitated angioplasty because the drug is already there and the chance of opening the artery is 100 percent.”
However, the salvage procedure is engaged when 24 hours has already elapsed after the drug has entered the patient’s system, as in Persaud’s case. With the operation performed on Persaud he is expected to be fully functional in about six weeks.
According to Dr Soni, Persaud is expected to be discharged today but will have to return within 10 days for a follow-up examination which will continue six weeks later before he is referred back to his former doctor’s care.
Yesterday Persaud was resting comfortably at CHI and was receiving moral support from some of his colleagues and friends when this newspaper visited.
Recounting his experience to this newspaper the senior police officer said that he started feeling funny on Sunday and realised that something was wrong.
“I just felt a stiffness in my chest on Sunday…This was the first time something like that has happened to me. So I went to the hospital.” According to Persaud doctors at the private hospital managed to stabilise him but eventually decided to make arrangements for him to be transferred to CHI.
He is of the firm belief that he has been given a second chance at life thus will be able to help care for his newborn son, Arjune, who was born at a private hospital yesterday. “I feel great not only because this facility is here but because we have some of the best physicians here. Dr Soni who operated on me…there is not enough praises for him.
“Because of him I am able to bat a second innings,” said a grateful Persaud.
Meanwhile, Chandra Narine Sharma, owner of CNS Channel Six, has recovered well from an angioplasty operation he underwent at CHI last month. According to Dr Soni, Sharma has returned to the care of his former doctor and is doing well “by the grace of God.”
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