I think this is a major concern faced by those diagonised with ASD or similar congenital heart defects. Most of the doctors suggest device closure. But carrying a metal piece in heart for entire life is really hard for anybody to even think about. But for us we need to patch the pump before it get worse.
I have to undergo medical check-up as a part of fitness test for the job. A chest Xray will easily show the device and I will be black listed for ever. Same in the case of a regular OHS which leaves a big scar on the chest. It took me about an year to take a decision.
From one of the forum member I heard about Robotic surgery .He is into sports and few months after surgery he was preparing for a marathon (https://www.irfankaraman.com/en/robotik-kalp-ameliyati-asd-patch/, definitely a booster dose for my search for alternative methods).
I live in southern part of india, where there are many well equipped hospitals with lot of experienced doctors. So I searched for hospitals with the Robot equipment, but found that most hospitals use this equipment for tumour removal and similar cancer related surgeries. So my search word changed to “Cardiac surgeons specialized in robotic surgery in india” and came across Dr.Adil Sadiq. He did a minimally invasive surgery to close my ASD (https://cardiacsurgery.ucsf.edu/conditions--procedures/minimally-invasive-atrial-septal-defect-(asd)-closure.aspx)
My experience with the surgery is mentioned in this post (My LIS (Least Invasive Surgery ) experience, patient with 3.1cm ASD), please read .
After the surgery I was on a blood pressure medication (ramipril 2.5mg).Earlier this month (July 2020), after seeing my echo report doctor told me to stop the medicine . While taking ramipril I felt the normal side effects of the medicine like dizziness while waking up suddenly from bed, dry cough etc .But now after stopping the medication I feel completely ok .
In this forum, I came across many posts on complications faced by people who underwent device closure . There are many factors involved in the selection of right procedure by the surgeon, what ever mentioned in this post is from a patient’s perspectieve .Seek as many expert opinions as possible before making a final call.
(https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.106.664672) .Anyone know about the availability of this bioabsorbable device? If this thing gets approval then it will be the best option isn’t it?
My Echo report before surgery
Latest echo report
