A Coimbatore-based hospital claimed to have employed a rare heart repair procedure on a 72-year-old patient who collapsed after his aorta (cardiac artery) swelled to the size of a baloon.

The procedure, medically known as "percutaneous endovascular abdominal aneurysm repair" was performed on Janardhanan Nambiar of Kannur in Kerala [Images].

After he collapsed at his residence, he was rushed to a nearby hospital and a computerised tomogram of the abdomen revealed that the aneurysm had expanded greatly in size and had ruptured.

He was then shifted to G K N M Hospital in Coimbatore. Later, an angiogram revealed a contained rupture of the aneurysm and blocks in the blood vessels of the heart, Dr Rajpal K Abhaichand, cardiologist in the hospital told reporters Tuesday.

It was considered extremely risky to perform surgery and was decided to exclude the aneurysm from the circulation using a stent graft, which was performed by opening up the femoral artery (artery of leg) on which a 6 mm hole was made.

The two stent grafts were deployed and carefully released to close the aneurysm and great care was taken to see that none of the vessels supplying the kidneys were excluded, Rajpal said.

Usually stents have an open design, but in this special case a covered stent, which meant there was a thin fabric around the stent that allowed exclusion of the aneurysm, he said.

It was also possible to perform the procedure without losing any of the branches that supply the various abdominal organs, like kidney, Rajpal added.