Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Aug 24: A bleed in the major artery can be life threatening and always needs emergency intervention. The fastest and most suitable mode of treatment for such conditions is ‘artery embolisation’. Kidney embolisation also known as Renal Artery Embolisation is used to control bleeding from the kidney caused by trauma (injury), tumours and other conditions. At SMVD Narayana Superspeciality Hospital at Katra, the kidneys of a 65 year old female renal transplant patient were saved using this procedure.
During the process of diagnosis and initial investigations, it was found that the renal arteries were bleeding. A profusely bleeding renal artery was successfully closed using metallic coils. The patient was admitted for renal biopsy. Earlier patients from Jammu were at risk under this condition as the embolisation procedure was not available anywhere in Jammu or nearby districts and being an emergency situation, patients could not travel long distances too. Now artery embolisation—a highly effective way to control bleeding from the artery, especially in an emergency situation can be done at SMVD Narayana Hospital near Katra.
“Catheter embolisation places medications or synthetic materials called embolic agents through a catheter into a blood vessel to block blood flow to an area of the body. It may be used to control or prevent abnormal bleeding, close-off vessels supplying blood to a tumour, eliminate abnormal connections between arteries and veins, or to treat aneurysms”, informed Dr. Ujjaval Mehrotra, Consultant Cardiologist at SMVD Narayana Superspeciality Hospital, Jammu.
Embolisation is much less invasive than conventional open surgery. As a result, there are fewer complications and the hospital stay is relatively brief – often only an overnight stay at the hospital. Blood loss is less compared to conventional surgical treatment, and there is no obvious surgical incision needed; only a small nick in the skin that does not have to be stitched.
“For this patient, we used local anaesthesia and made a small cut in the groin to insert a catheter into a blood vessel in the groin. The catheter was then moved into position using x-ray in real time. The position of the catheter was checked using contrast (a dye that allows visibility on x-ray). The embolisation agent was then injected through the catheter into the select blood vessel blocking the blood supply to the area of kidney that is to be embolised”, explained Dr Ujjaval.
The patient recovered without any complications. It was a risky procedure as the patient had undergone kidney transplant earlier and if this procedure was not performed on time, the kidneys could have got damaged with a threat to life, he stated.
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