Malaysia’s first public hospital LVAD implant at HSIS saves a 57-year-old patient, marking a major milestone in advanced heart failure treatment.
SERDANG: The Ministry of Health has made history with the country’s first successful Left Ventricular Assist Device implantation within the public healthcare system.
The procedure was performed on a 57-year-old male patient suffering from end-stage heart failure at Sultan Idris Shah Hospital on December 10.
Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said the surgery marked the first time such an implantation was carried out at an MOH facility. It involved the use of the HeartMate 3 device by a local multidisciplinary clinical team.
“The patient selected was one who truly required the device to save his life,” he said at a press conference.
Dzulkefly said the five-hour surgery was completed smoothly without complications. The patient has been successfully weaned off all inotropic support and is currently undergoing physiotherapy.
He added that the device cost about RM680,000, with the total procedure amounting to approximately RM800,000.
“Although it is expensive, this LVAD is still regarded by the cardiology community as one of the most cost-effective treatment options,” he said.
However, any decision to expand LVAD use as national policy would depend on further analyses of the patient’s post-procedure quality of life.
Cardiologist Dr K. Sethujanatran said the patient was selected as he was in the most critical stage after almost all other treatments had failed.
“The patient was in the final stage, with nearly all other treatments exhausted,” he said.
He added that the patient had been treated in the Coronary Care Unit for almost three months before being chosen for the implantation.
