Bengaluru: A complicated heart surgery was performed on a 39-year-old Pakistani at a private hospital here and saved him from a life-threatening situation, a hospital official said on Friday.

“Though Anwar (name changed) was initially treated in his native city (Karachi) for back and chest pain in 2008, he had a history of hypertension, jeopardising his young life,” Jain Institute of Vascular Sciences (JIVAS) director and vascular surgeon Dr Kalkunte R Suresh said in a statement here.

A CT scan, however, revealed Anwar’s heart had an artery that supplies blood to vital organs split into two, affecting blood supply to other parts of the body.

“He (Anwar) was given the option of going to the US or Bengaluru. He came to us on November 9 for treatment as his life was at stake, as the scan confirmed a spiral split in the blood supply,” said Dr Suresh.

The split involved both arteries supplying the intestines and kidneys were shrunken from lack of blood supply.

A team of doctors, including Vivekananda, Visnu and Sumanth Raj performed the surgery after providing alternate route for supplying blood to intestines and fixed a stent graft to prevent blood leaking.

“In the first stage, a bypass was made to intestines and liver with artificial graft from left leg’s arteries. Anwar recovered well to have a stent graft inserted in a week through a small incision in the right groin,” said Dr Suresh.

Recovering from a life-saving surgery swiftly, Anwar is having a normal diet, taking long walks and raring to return home soon.

JIVAS is part of Bhagwan Mahaveer Jain Hospital here.