The Chennai-based Fortis Malar Hospital has successfully saved the life of 29-year-old African woman, Imange Djema, by performing a rare heart and tumour surgery for the first time in Asia.

According to doctors in the hospital, Imange Djema came to India from Congo with a hope for cure of her multiple heart defects. She had trouble in breathing and low level of oxygen in her blood turn her nails and lips blue.

They said when the medical records of Imange were closely examined, it was realized that the case was one of the rare and complex cases in the medical history. On detailed examinations, the reports confirmed that Imange was suffering from Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a congenital heart defect. Blood supply to her heart was not proper and low oxygen levels in her blood had caused her nails and lips to turn blue. She had multiple blocks in both lung arteries due to clots. Adding further risk to the surgery was the presence of ‘Phaeochromocytoma’, a rare tumour of the adrenal gland that was revealed in the abdominal scan report.

A team of doctors led by Dr K R Balakrishnan, director Cardiac Sciences, Dr Sriram Mahadevan, endochrinologist, Dr Mohan Rao, general surgeon and Dr Suresh Rao, chief cardiac anaesthesia and other team of doctors at Fortis Malar Hospital performed a series of complex surgeries on Imange Djema for about three hours over a period of 10 days.

Dr Mohan Rao and his team first removed her tumour and a week after recovery she underwent total correction of her complete heart defects - Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) by Dr K R Balakrishnan, director Cardiac Sciences, Fortis Malar Hospital. The doctor said, “The occurrence of both the conditions made the surgeries extremely risky. The adrenal tumour causes wild swings in the blood pressure from 50 to 300 mHg.”

Dr K G Suresh Rao, chief cardiac Anaesthesia and Cardiac Critical Care said, “It was a challenge for cardiac anaesthesia because adrenal tumor surgery cause fluctuations in the blood pressure. It was indeed handled well by the team through the knowledge of cardiac physiology and experience in handling cardiac patients.”

The doctor said very few cases of ‘Phaeochromocytoma’ and ‘Tetralogy of Fallot’ are reported in world literature. Most of them have had the heart defect repaired during early childhood and have had adrenal tumour later in life. This is the first reported case in literature, where both have been repaired at the same time successfully for the same patient.