Man with COVID-19 suffers heart attack, operated upon at city hospital

A 31-year-old man who tested positive for COVID-19 and had "no history of major cardiac risk factor" suffered a severe heart attack following which he was operated upon at a city hospital, doctors said on Tuesday.

A 31-year-old man who tested positive for COVID-19 and had "no history of major cardiac risk factor" suffered a severe heart attack following which he was operated upon at a city hospital, doctors said on Tuesday. Hospital authorities said the patient was facing difficulty in breathing and the pain in his chest was worsening. A rapid antigen test for COVID-19 was done on him which displayed negative result, but doctors went ahead with an RT-PCR test as per procedure which came out positive, they said.

The patient's arteries were 100 per cent blocked even though he did not have any prior cardiac issues and had lived a very healthy life. The pain in his chest rose abruptly and he was rushed to Fortis Hospital Shalimar Bagh, where his case was handled by a team of doctors led by Dr Manish Gunjan, Additional Director, Interventional Cardiology, the hospital said in a statement. "Patient presented with an extensive heart attack, with no history of major cardiac risk factor, so an immediate decision was taken to do coronary angiography," it said.

"The patient did not have any family history of cardiac issues, was not overweight, did not smoke or consume alcohol and exercised regularly. When he was brought to us, he exhibited symptoms of COVID-19 and on testing, he was found COVID positive," Gunjan said. Since there was no prior history of cardiac ailments and research indicated "the virus had had a detrimental effect on the heart, we corelated the same," he claimed.

"We conducted angioplasty and stenting of main artery within half-an-hour. The post-surgical period was smooth and uneventful. The patient was able to walk the next day itself," he added.