Q: My mother is 59 years old. She is suffering from diabetes and hypertension for the past 29 years. Her blood pressure is around 160/90 even with high drugs for hypertension. She has tested positive for triple vessel coronary problem with left main vessel disease. Her GFR is 53% and she also has peripheral vascular disease, involving abdominal aorta and both iliac arteries. She doesn't have any abnormal symptoms of heart disease. Her ECG and ECHO are normal. Is it advisable to go for a bypass? Are other methods like EDTA suitable? Where is it done in Chennai?

A:Your mother certainly needs bypass surgery from the data you have furnished. I do agree, she will be slightly higher risk case surgery as compared to some one who is not a diabetic or doesn't have peripheral vascular disease but despite the presence of all these complicating factors, the results of bypass are going to be better than the results of medical treatment. Treatments like EDTA are not proven treatment and as it stands today, we do not think it’s a scientific modality of treatment and is practiced by quacks and not qualified doctors. Chennai has lot of centres where bypass surgery is performed and virtually every hospital with a heart surgery department would be performing bypass. I don't think it will be fair for me to pin point an institution, so I think you would have to take your call and visit any one of the cardiac surgery centres existing in Chennai which are upwards of 15-20 in number.