Mumbai: Samosas, Chinese food choke 21-year-old's heart, land him in hospital

Saurabh Maphuskar

When Parel resident Saurabh Maphuskar, 21, kept eating samosas and Chinese street food every day, little did he know that all of it was also slowly choking his heart - with cholesterol.

The college student underwent a coronary artery bypass grafting on May 16, after finding out on a trip the hospital to treat his breathlessness that three of his arteries were blocked, because of built-up fat and cholesterol.

Puking and breathless
Maphuskar's heart troubles began on May 11, when he was all alone at home. Around 6 pm, he felt uneasy. Soon after, he started vomiting. Then he drank some water to calm himself down. But again at night he became breathless and had to be rushed to Global Hospital the next morning. A series of diagnosis there showed that the three big heart vessels, namely the left anterior descending, circumflex and right coronary arteries, were blocked due to the build-up of fat and cholesterol.

"When we received the patient in the emergency ward, we thought he might have developed blockage in an artery, but we were shocked to find out through ECG and other tests that all three major arteries have been blocked. In my 18-year career as a cardiologist, I have never seen a young man of this age develop the critical triple vessel disease," said Dr Zainulabedin Hamdulay, director of cardiothoracic and vascular surgery at Global Hospital.

'Serious condition'
Maphuskar's family were in equal disbelief regarding his condition, considering he is athletic and has no history of cardiac problems. To clear their doubts, Maphuskar's brother Gaurav took him KEM hospital for a second opinion. Unsurprisingly, doctors there gave the same diagnosis.

"We rushed him to KEM, where they stated his condition was serious. We wanted to admit him there but as it was taking time, we took him back to Global Hospital, where he underwent the surgery," said Gaurav. Generally, coronary artery disease can be treated with an angioplasty if one or two arteries are blocked. However, in this case, all three major vessels were blocked, which is known as critical triple vessel disease.

Maphuskar would routinely skip meals at home to have junk food outside and pay little heed to his family members trying to correct this habit. "The condition develops due to bad dietary habits and excess intake of junk and fried food on a regular basis. The patient had a regular intake of samosas and Chinese food. When I opened his heart, all the vessels were filled with cholesterol, and I felt so frustrated about the eating habits of the youths in Mumbai," said Dr Hamdulay.

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