Shimoga, September 2017: Sahyadri Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Shimoga, successfully implanted a pacemaker in a 90-year-old lady. Mrs. Sharadamma, had a complete heart block, a degenerative process affecting the wiring system of the heart and leads to slow heart rate resulting in unconsciousness. It is usually seen in elderly people and can lead to falls resulting in head injury and heart failure. The only therapy available as of today is the insertion of a small battery-sized device known as the pacemaker.
Despite the tough odds, Dr. Sreevatsa Nadig, and the team at Sahyadri Narayana Multispeciality Hospital in Shimoga performed the hi-risk surgery to implant a pacemaker in the 90-year-old woman as her ECG revealed complete heart block, which was the cause for her low heart rate.
Dr. Sreevatsa Nadig, the Chief cardiologist, said, “Although we had done pacemakers on a 105-year-old man back in Lucknow and several octogenarians in Bangalore, I think for the first time in Malnad region such a rare surgery has been performed on a 90-year-old lady”.
Mrs. Sharadamma, who hails from Sagar, has been discharged and is doing well.