The faculty of Gastroenterology under the leadership of Dr. GS Lamba, Dr. Monica Jain & Dr. Pradeep Kr. Siddappa, have performed a very unique case of Surgical Endoscopic Closure of Colon on a young patient, Mr. Ashok 35/M presented with lower GI Bleed due to colonic fistula. The closure was performed using a new device called ‘Over the Scope Clip’ OTSC(Ovesco,USA). This is only the second such procedure in Delhi & NCR. Patient currently in follow-up has had no repeat episode of GI Bleed.

New Delhi, Jan 14, 2013: Delhi-based Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute (SBAMI) has set a milestone in the medical field by operating upon 45 year old Mehfooz Ahmed and removing a renal stone weighing 700 grams. A total of 5 stones were extracted from the patient’s kidney and out of these, one stone weighed 700 grams with a diameter of 9 cm.

When Mehfooz was brought to the hospital, he had complaints of passing blood in his urine and pain in his left flank. On getting X-ray and an ultrasound done, it was detected that there were giant renal stones in his left kidney. Further, CT scan and DTPA renal scan revealed that his kidney was remarkably enlarged although it was functioning well. It was also found out in the tests that the patient had a congenital defect called Pelvi Ureteric Junction (PUJ) obstruction which is a blockage at the junction of the kidney and ureter.

When the patient was first seen by Dr. Pawan Mehta (Senior Consultant, Urology) in the OPD, he was taken aback by the gigantic size of the stone shown in the plain X-ray and got it repeated to reconfirm it. He along with the other senior consultant in urology, Dr. G.P. Sharma, then decided to operate upon him on an immediate basis. They conducted a 4 hour long open abdominal operation (retroperitoneal left flank approach) during which they removed 5 renal stones which altogether weighed around 800 grams. After the removal, the doctors did a corrective reconstructive surgery for his PUJ obstruction to widen the opening so as to prevent further chances of recurrence.

According to Dr. Mehta, “This is a rare occurrence in medical science that a stone of such weight has been removed from a patient’s kidney. Kidney stones generally occur due to solid concretions formed from dissolved urinary minerals. This was further precipitated in Mehfooz’s case because of his PUJ obstruction. This, in addition to the mammoth size of the stones, required us to do a more detailed planning and strategizing before the surgery as compared to other cases of kidney stones.”

Mehfooz is from an economically weaker section and SBAMI provides special facilities for such patients, thus it was ensured that he was best taken care of without putting any financial burden on him and his family.

Doctors at our hospital recently brought to this world Delhi’s tiniest baby. Born 3½ months (24 weeks) premature and weighing only 550 grams, the delivery was a complicated procedure.But baby Pinky showed exemplary courage in fighting all odds and emerging as a winner. Doctors say that she maybe India’s first baby who has survived after being delivered in the 24th week of pregnancy.

Her mother, Mrs. Pinky Chowdhary (29), suffering from chronic severe hypertension, was brought to the hospital when she was 23 weeks pregnant. She was trying to conceive her baby after 13 years of her first abortion. At first, doctors thought that this was also a case of abortion. This happened because the age of fetal viability in India is generally taken as 27 weeks and 700 gms. However, challenging all odds, a team of obstetricians and neonatologists comprising of Dr. Dipak K Guha (HOD & Neonatologist-in-Chief) and Dr. Virender Kumar (Neonatologist) decided to take up the challenge and put in all their efforts to save the baby.

The baby was delivered vaginally on 28th January, 2013. Due to the extreme low weight and premature delivery, the baby was in an unstable condition. The mother was resuscitated and stabilized and two doses of surfactant were administered to improve her lung maturity. The infant had to be kept at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for about 12 weeks. She had a renal failure on Day 3 which was improved with conservative management. The baby also had to be put on ventilator for total of about 18 days. During her stay at the NICU, the doctors continuously monitored her and gave her antibiotics, prophylactic antifungal, IV (Intravenous) caffeine for apnea of prematurity, IV calcium and total parenteral nutrition. After going through several ups and downs in the past 2½ months wherein she battled sepsis, feed intolerance and bronchopneumonia, Pinky is now double her birth weight (1.2 kg) and without any apparent physical or neuro developmental handicaps which are usual in such premature babies.

Commenting on the case, Dr. Guha said, “In spite of the availability of modern and high tech gadgets and the understanding of the problems of the extreme premature babies, it still remains a challenge to save the babies whose birth weight is below 1000 gms. About 60% babies in this weight range do not survive in India even with the best of care. But the dedication of our efficient team of doctors and the decision of the management to treat her free of cost for the 2 ½ months have helped Delhi’s tiniest baby to survive.”

This hospital made me feel like home. The Doctors and Staff here are very friendly & this encouraged me to recover quicker. This has persuaded me to recommend my nationals to come here for treatment

Sri Balaji Action Hospital is a world class hospital. I have been to hospitals overseas for medical treatment & I have never received the type of healing & attention I received here. Nigerians who have been here have testified like I have. The staff is caring & thorough in the use of their equipment & the analysis of their results.

I won’t hesitate in recommending this hospital to anyone in need. The Doctors are exceptional. I’d offer my heart to Dr. Ashok who is very caring & concerned.

I didn’t feel like leaving the hospital when I realized I was being cared for as one of their family members. My deepest regard goes to Dr. Ashok Goel, the kindest of all the doctors I have come across in my life. God will continue to bless all of them & their families.

New Delhi, December 20, 2011: Doctors at Paschim Vihar based Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute successfully handled a rare case of right sided heart tumor and gave a new lease of life to 70 year old Anita Sen (name changed). The case was also a diagnostic challenge for the doctors as the only symptom that the patient showed was syncope (sudden or temporary loss of consciousness).

Mrs. Sen, a patient of hypertension for the last 15 years, had complaints of recurrent fainting since the past eight months. She was admitted to the hospital when the frequency increased to 1-2 episodes per day. As the fainting instances were not accompanied by any other complaints, neurological tests were conducted which came out to be negative. Since all the medical tests were non-contributory, ECG was performed which revealed that there was a 5 cm X 4.5 cm size tumor arising from her right atrial free wall. This rare condition affects only 5% of the population and if left undiagnosed, such patients might face the risk of increased mortality.

To remove the tumor, a 4 hour long surgery was performed by an expert team of doctors headed by Dr. Rakesh Chugh (Senior Consultant, Cardiology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute). Commenting upon the case, he said, “Since the tumor was fragile, utmost care was taken so that it does not get disintegrated during the surgery. The disintegration of the tumor might have caused haemorrhage that could have been fatal to the patient’s life. However, with the expertise of our team, the tumor was removed successfully and the right atrium was reconstructed with fresh autologus pericardium (an artificial patch used in cardiac surgeries). “

Mrs. Sen has now been discharged and has had no episode of fainting during the follow up period.

Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute is a multi-specialty hospital with over 35 medical specialties and 10 special clinics. Orthopedics, Cardiology, Cardiac Surgery, Neurology, Neurosurgery, Nephrology, Gastroenterology, GI Surgery and so on are some of the specialized areas in which the hospital excels. It is equipped with the latest state-of-the-art equipments like Rapid Arc Radiation Machine, 16 Slice PET.CT & Gamma Camera, 1.5 Tesla MRI and 64 Slice CT Angio among others.

Life took an unfortunate turn for 57 year old Sumitra Khanna (name changed) and her family when she got involved in a tragic accident. For months, her family was running from here and there to get her back to normal life. All attempts seemed futile until they brought her to Paschim Vihar based Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute.

After the accident on 6th July, 2010, she was immediately rushed to a local hospital where she underwent a CT scan for her head injury. On examining the CT scan report, the doctors referred her to a Delhi hospital. In Delhi, Mrs. Khanna underwent an emergency brain surgery as her condition was very critical.

When the first operation did not improve her condition, she underwent another operation. Post second operation, she developed severe meningitis due to which she passed into a vegetative state. She was unable to perform any bodily function like walking, sitting etc. She also suffered from Cerebrospinal fluid leakage and pus formation. In order to save Mrs. Khanna from this fatal condition, the doctors operated upon her for the third time. A month thereafter, she was discharged and taken back to her hometown. Just when her family thought that she was on the path to recovery, her condition again started deteriorating and she had to be brought back to Delhi. On examination, the doctors found that there was a buildup of Cerebrospinal fluid inside the skull leading to increased pressure. Thereafter, a VP (Ventriculoperitoneal) shunt had to be inserted to relieve the pressure and a part of her skull also had to be removed due to prolonged meningitis. Her vegetative state continued and she even slipped into coma for 15-20 days.

Mrs. Khanna's family lost all hopes of her being normal again. Her family then brought her to Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute where she was placed underwent the watchful eye of Dr. IC Premsagar (Senior Consultant, Neuro Surgery). She was also suffering from abdominal hernia apart from being in a vegetative stage. On seeing Mrs. Khanna's painful condition, Dr. Premsagar volunteered to take the risk of operating upon her when doctors at some of the premiere hospitals in Delhi refused to take her case. On 25th July 2011, Dr. Premsagar along with his team of doctors performed three continuous surgeries on Mrs. Khanna in a 5 hour long operation. The team placed an artificial skull in order to do away with the depression on the left side of her head, replaced the existing VP shunt and repaired the hernia. Just one day after the operation, she regained consciousness and to the surprise of her family and started talking to them.

Mrs. Khanna is now in a stable condition and has been discharged. Expressing her delight, her youngest daughter said, “We are very happy that our mother will now be able to live a meaningful life and that our one year ordeal has finally come to an end. We are grateful to Dr. Premsagar and his team for giving my mother a new lease of life.”