Rare 3-in-1 stent surgery in Mumbai

As he walks around the doctor's clinic taking small, quick steps, Kalwa resident Madhukar Ghadigaonkar doesn't give the impression of being a man who needed a drastic medical rescue operation just a week ago. But the 67-year-old had three types of blood vessels—two attached to the brain, two to the kidneys and one of the heart—operated on in one session on October 7. Doctors who treated him say this is the first time a triple-vessel procedure such as this one has been attempted.

Stents were placed at five blockages across these arteries to "revive" the former government servant who had been fainting and feeling sluggish for about a month. His doctors are happy that the grandfather recovered well enough to go home within four days.

Others in the medical fraternity are, however, a bit cautious. "It is lucky for the patient that everything went well. The patient could have suffered a stroke or shock during the procedure," said a senior doctor who didn't want to be identified.

Two aspects make this case different. First, the extent of the patient's disease—atherosclerosis or deposition of plaque—had spread to the arteries in his heart, brain and kidneys. The vessels had narrowed considerably, leading to Ghadigaonkar's fainting spells.

Doctors across the world prefer to tackle each system separately. If the brain or carotid arteries are fixed in one session, the renal or heart are done in another. But this was different.