#AppreciationMonday: Durban doctor Dr Vinesh Padayachy performs a first for Africa
This doctor is changing the way patients with chronic illness live...
Dr Vinesh Padayachy is not just a medical prodigy, but someone that is always looking for ways to use medicine advancement to assist patients.
He is the only doctor of his kind to have performed this first of its kind procedure in Africa.
And we are so pleased and grateful that he is based in our beloved province of KwaZulu-Natal.
Dr Padayachy "performed an orbital atherectomy, which sands away calcium or plaque build-up that is difficult to remove in the arteries." (IOL)
He is based at Lenmed eThekwini Hospital and Heart Centre and told IOL that he learnt how to perform the surgery from "experts based in the US and was able to learn and understand the procedure through a series of digital meetings."
Dr Padayachee explained that people who suffer with high blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes are at risk for buildup in their vessels.
In an African first, Padayachy operated on a "67-year-old woman with atherosclerosis of her arteries in her extremities. She is also hypertensive, diabetic and has chronic kidney disease. (IOL)
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He told IOL: "This procedure greatly assists patients with blocked blood vessels. We send down a device that spins at high velocity, so much so that it files down the blockage down from the inside. This then widens the area in the blood vessel. Almost like a drill that creates a hole through the blockage."
There are, however, several factors that have to be taken into consideration by surgeons. He described this particular procedure to others in the past and admitted that this procedure was "less invasive".
"Explaining the advantages of the procedure, Padayachy said it was minimally invasive and less stay in hospital, so it heals faster and is cheaper for the patient." (IOL)
So, all in all the procedure is definitely cutting edge and feasible for patients, and much more refined in the actual process for surgeons.
Image Courtesy of Facebook