Medical Miracle
In 2005 New York Magazine featured Adams as having performed "Medical Miracle #7" when, in 2004, he performed mitral valve surgery on actress Liana Pai, who was then six months pregnant with her first child.
Immediate surgery was required to address Pai's aggressive bacterial infection. A conventional surgical procedure – arresting the heart during the operation, using a heart-and-lung machine, and following up with a regime of anti-clotting drugs – would have terminated the actress's pregnancy. With an incision across Pai's breast bone, Dr. Adams drained blood from her heart into a reservoir where it could be oxygenated before being returned to the aorta. In the meantime, he replaced two valves, both too badly damaged to attempt reconstruction with time limited by lack of a heart-and-lung machine, with compatible organic tissue – thereby eliminating the need for pregnancy-prohibiting anti-clotting drugs post-surgery.
“I was glad to be alive, of course, but until my baby was born, I wouldn’t believe everything was okay.” Pai would get her satisfaction ten weeks later. "Ima came out perfect and healthy. She’s healthy, headstrong, independent. Adams saved two lives at once."
Read more about this topic: David H. Adams
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