COIMBATORE: A 60-year-old man, who was diagnosed with multiple blocks in both his coronary arteries, approached a hospital in Coimbatore stating that he was ready to undergo any treatment provided there was no blood transfusion involved in it.The man, who is a Jehovah’s Witness by faith, was hesitant to even have his own blood taken in advance, frozen and re-transfused into him. For Jehovah’s Witnesses, transfusion of blood is against their religious belief.After a lot of analysis, cardiothoracic surgeons at Sri Ramakrishna Hospitals managed to perform a coronary bypass surgery on the man without giving him any blood transfusion, around three weeks back. They bypassed his blocked arteries, with arteries taken from his mammary glands, instead of his vein from his legs, which is a more common procedure.When the patient first approached Dr Thiagarajamurthy in the hospital with his condition and a specific request of not giving blood transfusion, doctors were hesitant. “His condition, which included multiple blocks, did not let us perform a stent angioplasty or a balloon angioplasty,” Dr Thiagarajamurthy said.“We decided to perform a surgery which minimises blood loss, as much as possible,” he added. “The patient also signed a separate consent form agreeing that complications may arise due to him not accepting blood transfusion,” the doctor said.As a first step to minimise blood loss during surgery, the doctors stopped all anti-platelet medicines a few days before the procedure.“We also decided not to stop his heart from beating because that involves administering a heavy dose of heparins, an anti- coagulant, which in turn leads to excessive blood loss,” said Dr Thiagarajamurthy.“We stabilised a small portion of the heart and performed the surgery. The surgery was done minimising blood loss at every avenue possible,” he added.The doctors took both his mammary arteries, fashioned them into a Y-fashion, and connected it to the coronary vessels, so they can supply blood to the heart instead of the coronary arteries.

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