Richard’s Quadruple Heart Bypass

A 65-year old Property Developer, Richard plays squash as his sports and considers himself fairly fit.

On the advice of friends and family he underwent a routine heart check-up to check there was nothing out of the ordinary. To his surprise, his routine check-up found that all four of Richard’s main arteries were seriously calcified and narrowed.

Open-heart surgery

Richard then underwent an angioplasty, a procedure that sees arteries widened to insert a stent and keep blood flowing. Unfortunately, midway through the procedure his surgeon deemed his arteries were too blocked for the procedure to be successful. Instead, Richard was told he’d need a quadruple bypass. The three consultants treating him at the time were adamant that he’d need open heart surgery to achieve this, an invasive procedure that involves cutting the breastbone open vertically.

Richard seeks for a second opinion

“I am a property developer and we never take the advice of just one estate agent! So I carried out my own research and came across Dr Inderpaul Birdi, and I was impressed by his simple, clear and convincing support of keyhole surgery as an alternative to open heart surgery.”

Richard saw Dr Birdi at The Harley Street Clinic’s Devonshire Diagnostic Centre, where he reviewed all of Richard’s existing test results thoroughly. “He was punctual, had reviewed my file carefully and was able to confirm that he could bypass the two main arteries through keyhole surgery while another doctor could insert stents into the remaining two”.

Mr Birdi then referred Richard to Consultant Cardiologist Dr Sam Firoozi, also of The Harley Street Clinic, who confirmed to Richard that he would insert the two remaining stents through angioplasty.

Bypassing Richard’s arteries without the need for an open-heart surgery

Just a week later, he was booked in for his procedure at The Harley Street Clinic. On the morning of his procedure, Mr Birdi asked Richard for permission to bypass more arteries if he could do so safely, which Richard consented to. To Richard’s amazement, when he woke up he was told that Mr Birdi had successfully bypassed all four arteries, avoiding the need for a future angioplasty.

He remained at The Harley Street Clinic’s cardiac ward for a week. “The nurses were wonderful and treated me very well, as did the cardiac physiotherapists. Everyone from the cleaners to the porters were lovely.”

It has taken Richard time to get back to his full health, but he remarked that by undergoing a minimally-invasive procedure as opposed to open surgery, the pain was not as bad as he expected it to be and his scarring is minimal.

“Mr Birdi and his team have continued the great after care I have come to expect from them, kind and supportive and immediately responsive which has helped to build up my confidence in getting back to normal as quickly as possible.”

Early signs matter. Book an appointment to see a cardiologist now. Call 020 7616 4988

Visit HCA UK’s cardiac care services page to find out more.

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