Public employee İlyas Durum had his first heart attack in 1995. Durum was taken to the Gülhane Military Medical Academy, as it was known at the time, and his heart was restarted by applying an electric shock. Durum’s heart problems recurred later, and he underwent bypass surgery twice in 1999 and 2000. Durum fell ill again in 2013 and a stent was inserted into his heart in a 3.5-hour operation. Durum underwent angiography 27 times between 2000 and 2021 due to blockage of the arteries.
Durum retired from public service in 2021 due to his illness. Durum, who was also treated for heart rhythm disorder, applied to Ankara Etlik City Hospital 2 weeks ago due to another heart condition. As a result of the heart ultrasound and heart endoscopy analysis performed here, it was determined that Durum had a hole in his heart and it was stated that it was too late for surgery and his heart was deformed.
‘MY MEDICINE COUNT HAS INCREASED TO 20 A DAY’
İlyas Durum, stating that he had his first heart attack in 1995, said, “In 1995, I was living in the Ministry of Finance lodge in Ankara. I had a heart attack at 00.30 at night. I went to the emergency room of GATA, which was 100 meters away. My heart stopped in the morning in the emergency room. I was operated with shock. Thank God, we are still alive since that day; however, I have overcome many difficulties. There was damage to my heart from the heart attack. While trying to live with this damage, unfortunately, I had bypass surgery, that is, open heart surgery, in 1999 due to my increasing heart problems. However, since it was an unsuccessful operation, I had bypass surgery again in a private hospital in 2000. Since the vessels in my heart were 90 percent blocked in 2013, my doctor at that time placed a stent in my heart. Then my arrhythmia started. Ablation treatment was applied for the arrhythmia. However, my arrhythmia continued. I had my last angiography in 2021. However, in the meantime, I “I had angiography 27 times. And as a result, I had 2 bypasses. I had angiography 27 times. A stent was placed in my heart once. I had an ablation once. Then in 2021, after the last angiography, I was told that there was nothing more to do. When I had pain, I was given an additional medication, and my medication count increased to 20 per day,” he said.
‘I CONSIDER IT AS UNLUCKY’
Durum, who applied to Etlik City Hospital 2 weeks ago due to heart problems, said, “After the examination, my doctor said, ‘You have a hole in your heart.’ It has been 30 years since my first heart attack. I went to various doctors. I received treatment. None of them told me, ‘You have a hole in your heart.’ Since they did not, it was too late and my heart became deformed because of the delay. My doctor said that an intervention done now would not make sense as a result of the deformation. The hole in my heart is close to 2 centimeters. I know that the doctors are well-intentioned, so they must have missed it. I consider it unlucky.
My doctor said, ‘Surgery is not possible, you’ve already had two bypasses, your rib cage has been opened twice, the chance of opening a third time is zero. The only solution is to perform umbrella treatment by entering from the groin like angiography.’ But he said that the chance of umbrella treatment to restore the heart is very low. It was not noticed, it was too late. Maybe if it had been noticed after the first surgery, the hole would have been repaired in the second surgery,” he said.
Cardiologist Prof. Dr. Timuçin Altın from Ankara University Faculty of Medicine Heart Center said that 27 angiograms are too high for a patient and said, “However, of course, we have also seen patients close to this. Sometimes, due to the structure of the patients, stents are placed in their veins, but this stent can narrow. There can be narrowing in other new veins. For this, angiograms need to be done. This many angiograms are not a common situation; however, I do not think that any doctor would do this many angiograms unless necessary.” (DHA)