Hailed as a major life-saving invention by expert delegates at the prestigious 71st Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS) held in the National capital from February 20 to 23
Plans to patent device and publish a paper on it
It’s amazing how small and simple innovations can lead to remarkable outcomes. One such invention, a cooling turban, by well-known cardio-vascular surgeon from Punjab Dr Harinder Singh Bedi has helped save several patients by preventing injury to the brain due to low oxygen supply during surgery.
Dr Bedi, Director of Cardio-Vascular and Thoracic Sciences at Park Grecian Hospital, Mohali, presented his invention at the prestigious 71st Annual Conference of the Indian Association of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgeons (IACTS) held in the National capital from February 20 to 23. It was hailed as a major life-saving device by the hundreds of national and international expert delegates gathered at the conference, he stated.
Explaining the concept of the invention, Dr Bedi told your own news portal LifeInChandigarh.com that he has worked in advanced cardiovascular techniques at the Escorts Heart Delhi and the St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney, where he operated upon cases with cooling of the whole body (hypothermia) to preserve organ function.
He shared that it is a well-documented fact that any injury is better tolerated if the temperature of the injured organ is lowered. But in case of the brain, the problem is unique as whole-body cooling has its own inherent problems, and in brain-related surgery one needs only cooling of the brain. Any period of low oxygen to the brain can lead to a massive stroke.
So, Dr Bedi using his vast experience thought of ways to cool just the brain. After several attempts he was successful in getting designed a simple but unique cooling turban in which flexible rubber tubes are coiled around a turban. The turban is placed on a patient’s head (as demonstrated in the title picture by Dr Bedi wearing it himself) after administering anaesthesia and cold sterile water is pumped into these coils with the help of a special machine to keep the brain cool during surgery.
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He says that the simple device has till date been used in surgery on 48 patients for repair of blockage in brain arteries while fully preserving the brain.
Dr Bedi plans to patent the technique and publish it so that it can be used worldwide to help save more and more patients requiring brain surgery.
