When Malad resident Hasmukhrai Dholakia complained of chest pain, his family doctor suspected that the 62-year-old was suffering from a heart ailment.
But no one was prepared for what his electrocardiogram and angiography reports revealed.
Not only was Dholakia suffering from three blockages, but he also had a tumour that had been growing in his heart. Such tumours, known as left atrial myoxma, are rare. But for a patient to suffer from blockages and a tumour is even rarer.
“While I have operated on about 25-odd patients with tumours and have also done about 15,000 bypass surgeries, I have never seen both occurring in one person before,” said Dr Ramakanta Panda, cardiovascular thoracic surgeon and vice-chairman of Asian Heart Institute. Panda performed a six-hour surgery during which he did coronary artery bypass grafts (CABG) as well as removed the 2cm tumour from the patient.
“Dholakia wasn’t aware of the condition as there were no symptoms,” explained Panda. Usually, a part of the tumour breaks and moves to the brain, causing a paralytic stroke, he said.
“Fortunately, such tumours are non-cancerous and we were able to remove it in time,” Panda said, adding that Dholakia can now undergo a cardiac rehabilitation programme.
“Dholakia complained of chest pain on June 18, after which we took him to a nursing home in Malad. The doctors there said it could be fatigue. Imagine our surprise when he was diagnosed with a tumour and three blockages,” said a close friend of the family.
Dholakia, an accountant with a private firm, lives with his wife and has quite an active lifestyle. He never showed any symptoms of any heart problem, his friend said.
“He is doing very well after the surgery. His stitches were removed on Tuesday and he has enrolled into a cardio exercise programme at the hospital,” he added.
