For the first time in India, a scarless surgery on an 18-year-old boy from Uzbekistan was performed in a hospital in the national Capital. Toshikinov Doniyor — suffering from a congenital heart defect Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) — was operated upon at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute.

Applying the most innovative approach of a non-conventional surgery, the team of surgeons was led by doctor Yugal Mishra, Director Cardiovascular Surgery at Fortis Escorts Heart Institute.

Doniyor was clueless and went to multiple doctors for a surgical procedure without scars but he was left emotionally devastated while thinking about the procedure.

“I can relate to the stigma of patients related to heart surgery and scar, so I thought why not give a chance for scarless surgery and thus the idea evolved,” said Dr Yugal Mishra on how the idea of choosing areole for the specific surgery.

Dr Mishra said how advanced technology, along with a creative mind, can help patients in an unexpected way. He chose to give incision on the patient’s chest which is almost invisible as it is in the fold of the areola. “What seems to be important to notice here is the site of the surgery along with the size of the cuts,” said Mishra. However, it is undoubtedly even more problematic while operating with a male patient in comparison to women.

Using minimal invasive instruments and adopting peripheral bypass to conduct the surgery was although difficult but this would help patients with similar medical complications in a less scar manner. The surgeon added, “As the cuts are becoming less, it’s becoming more challenging for us to operate in an expertise way as there is no other option to experiment.”

The success of the procedure will lead to treat more patients as India is estimated to have enormous cases of congenital heart defects, where ten percent of the infant mortality is due to the same disease.