Kauvery Kathaigal: 5
The Pressure of Silence: Racing to close the cap before the lungs give way
Highlights
Patient: A middle-aged lady, supported by her tech-savvy daughter, was diagnosed with Perimembranous Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD)—a hole in the wall separating the heart’s lower chambers.
Key Finding: Secondary Pulmonary Hypertension (dangerously high blood pressure in lung arteries).
Urgency: The need for surgical closure before the damage to the lung vessels becomes irreversible (Eisenmenger Syndrome).
Patient’s story
The daughter, an IT professional accustomed to solving complex system errors, found a “bug” she couldn’t fix: her mother’s constant, nagging chest pain. For years, the mother had lived with a silent congenital defect, a small hole in her heart that she likely never knew existed. But as the years passed, that tiny leak turned into a flood of pressure hitting her lungs. The daughter’s analytical mind sensed the urgency; her mother wasn’t just tired—her heart was struggling against a rising tide of pressure.
Treatment Plan
Performed an Open-Heart VSD repair.
Outcome
With the hole closed, the “short circuit” ended. The pressure in the pulmonary arteries began to stabilize, preventing permanent lung failure. The constant chest pain—caused by the overworked right ventricle—dissipated.
Annual check-ups to monitor pulmonary artery pressure and ensure the patch remains secure, allowing the mother to enjoy her daughter’s milestones without the shadow of breathlessness.
Mothers are precious. God cannot be everywhere. So, he invented mothers.
