In a first, Orbital Atherectomy, Orbito Tripsy procedures performed at SSH Jammu

Srinagar, May 2: For the very first time, Orbital Atherectomy and Orbito tripsy procedures were performed at Super Speciality Hospital Jammu on Tuesday.
A doctor, who was part of the team performing the procedure said that that a 75-year-old patient from Nowshera Rajouri, who had developed a major heart attack a couple of days back was referred from a private centre to Government Medical College Jammu.
His angiography done in the same peripheral center revealed massively calcified critical distal LMCA disease, which is a death sentence if not treated in time.
The doctor said that treatment of left main coronary artery disease with massive calcification usually warrants bypass surgery, but this patient was not willing and wanted an alternative therapy.
“Clinical profile and angio results of this patient was a goose-bump feeling, but the patient had to be saved,” the doctor said.
After careful analysis, intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guided percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) / STENTING which was done successful with satisfactory result with the help of orbital athetectomy and intravascular lithotripsy (IVL).
Doctor said that once somebody has severe calcification in coronary arteries, the stents either do not cross or may not open properly, which can be detrimental both in the short and long term.
“Hence, these patients require some form of calcium modulation therapy and the oldest form of calcium modulation therapy is rotablation, which might fall short in vessels with larger diameter and calcium nodules, he said.
The newer forms of therapy are intravascular lithotripsy and orbital atherectomy which if used in combination, prove to be a game changer at times, he said.
This patient had large vessels and the calcium was nodular, therefore we used the combination of Orbital Atherectomy and IVL, which gave a result beyond imagination, doctor said further.
“Orbital Atherectomy, with the help of a diamond burr, ablates the calcium into fine particles and creates micro fractures in the calcium, while IVL sends shock waves and creates fractures in calcium,” he added.