Abi Basu and his wife traveled to India to perform a religious ritual honoring their deceased parents, but it was his own mortality that faced a terrifying threat. Multiple times on the journey, Abi lost his breath for several minutes. At night he awoke, gasping for air. He blacked out on a train platform. He developed a debilitating cough. His gait slowed to a crawl.
The lighthearted Abi attributed these alarming symptoms to overeating at family gatherings. For 20 days he exerted himself in and around Calcutta, persevering, but struggling.
By the time he arrived in Orange County, he needed a wheelchair to maneuver through the airport. Two days later he met with his primary care doctor at Hoag Medical Group who urged him to see his cardiologist right away.
“My cardiologist checked me up and said I need an echocardiogram immediately,” Abi said. “The technician was right there in the next room. They did the echo and found out I had heart failure. She said, ‘How did you survive?’”
Abi attributes his survival in India to God. For his new lease on life, however, he credits his team at Hoag. After additional tests including a transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) and an angiogram at the Jeffery M. Carlton Heart and Vascular Institute, his cardiologist determined that he needed cardiac surgery. Abi was referred to Anthony Caffarelli, M.D., the Newkirk Family Endowed Chair in Aortic Care, director of Hoag Cardiac Surgery and director of the Elaine & Robert Matranga Aortic Center.
“Before my appointment, I Googled like crazy,” he said. “Everyone told me, ‘Don’t worry about it, it will probably be a minimally invasive procedure,’ but from what I read, I knew it was going to be an open-heart surgery.”
Skilled cardiac surgeon Dr. Caffarelli confirmed Abi’s suspicions.
“He showed me a video of my echocardiogram, he knew my case. He came prepared,” Abi said.
Despite the invasive nature of the surgery, Dr. Caffarelli put Abi at ease.
“He said, ‘Don’t get nervous. I have done this surgery for a long time. To me, you’re a low-risk patient. I will have you sitting up in a chair chatting with your family six hours after surgery,’” Abi said.
Abi may have been low risk in Dr. Caffarelli’s hands, but his surgery was not a simple one. In one six-hour surgery, Abi underwent several procedures, including a chord sparing mitral valve replacement, a tricuspid valve repair, a procedure to correct his long-standing atrial fibrillation and a bypass graft of his right coronary artery to correct a congenital defect.
Sure enough, six hours after surgery, Abi was sitting up in a chair. He felt no pain. No shortness of breath. No cough. He was amazed.
“How did I go through the biggest crisis of my life without any pain? No heart attack, no kidney failure, no liver issues. My echocardiogram is back to normal,” Abi said. “The team was incredible.”
On his sixth day in the hospital, Abi underwent a second procedure to implant a pacemaker, a procedure not uncommon for those who have undergone complex valve and arrhythmia heart surgery. Abi remained at Hoag for seven days, getting to know the telemetry nurses and other medical staff, whom he described as “a Godsend.”
“It is so touching to remember back to how they put their patients before everything else. They took such good care of me,” he said. “I feel like a new person.”
Because it is generally best to repair a valve than replace it, more than 90% of mitral valve surgeries at Hoag are valve repairs. However, if the tissue is too damaged, it may require a valve replacement. For patients who require a valve replacement, Hoag is uniquely positioned to provide the expertise and access to the latest generation of valve replacement. Abi is grateful for the expert care he received as well as having access to the MITRIS RESILIA valve as part of the MOMENTIS clinical study.
“Clinical studies are very important,” Abi said. “I will be under medical supervision as part of the study for 10 years, and they will use this data to improve the product or to more confidently recommend it. It’s absolutely another benefit of Hoag.”
Abi also praised Hoag’s outpatient Cardiac Rehabilitation Program for the knowledgeable, compassionate people who are helping him fully recover. Cardiac rehabilitation is a medically supervised program that is recommended for patients recovering from a heart attack, heart failure, or other heart problems. Hoag offers cardiac rehab in Irvine and Newport Beach.
“You feel comfortable, because you have all these sensors on you while you exercise. You feel confident that someone is watching over you,” he said. “It’s a very well-run program.”
Abi Basu still marvels at the journey that started in India and continues in Irvine.
“I got a second chance at life,” he said. “I have to make the most of this one.”
