The visiting three US specialist doctors on Thursday completed the special transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS procedure) to stop water accretion in Khaleda Zia’s stomach and chest, and bleeding in her liver.
“The American doctors started the procedure of placing TIPS around 5:30pm at Evercare Hospital. The intervention ended at around 7:30 pm,” a member of Khaleda Zia’s medical board told UNB wishing anonymity.
He said BNP Secretary General Mirza Fakhrul Islam Alamgir and some family members of Khaleda were present at the hospital during the TIPS intervention by the doctors.
The physician said Khaleda was kept in the CCU of the hospital after the completion of the TIPS placement procedure.
Read: US doctors visit BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, examine reports
He said the US doctors--Hamid Rabb, Christos Georgiades and James P. A. Hamilton from Johns Hopkins University's School of Medicine--went to the hospital around 1:30 pm and had a meeting with the BNP chief’s medical board members.
After assessing Khaleda’s health condition and test reports, they decided to complete the TIPS procedure.
TIPS is a procedure that involves inserting a stent (tube) to connect the portal veins to adjacent blood vessels that have lower pressure. This relieves the pressure of blood flowing through the diseased liver and can help stop bleeding and fluid backup.
A TIPS also relieves the high blood pressure in the portal vein (called portal hypertension) that often occurs in the setting of liver cirrhosis.
Read: Two doctors from US arrive to assist in Khaleda Zia’s treatment
On Wednesday, Dr Hamid Rabb, and Dr James P. A. Hamilton reached Hazrat Shahjalal International Airport around 7:15 pm. Another physician Christos Georgiades arrived at the airport around 2 a.m. on Thursday.
The BNP chairperson’s family brought the three doctors---who are experts in various departments such as nephrology, hepatology, international radiology and liver-kidney transplant--from the USA after a discussion with the medical board at the Evercare Hospital.
BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia has been undergoing treatment at the Evercare Hospital in Dhaka since August 9. The 78-year-old former prime minister has been suffering from various ailments, including liver cirrhosis, arthritis, diabetes, kidney, lung, heart, and eye problems.
On October 9, the BNP chief’s medical board at Evercare Hospital recommended that she be urgently sent to a multidisciplinary centre abroad soon as there were no treatment options available for her in Bangladesh.
Speaking at a press conference at the hospital, the board also said the former prime minister’s life is at risk because of a lack of proper treatment to stop water accretion in her stomach and chest, internal bleeding and infections caused by her liver cirrhosis problem.