What happened to jayalalitha health
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalitha had become a symbol of the state's prosperity and progress but she was not a model of good health. She had been diagnosed with high blood sugar and'vegetation' in her heart valve, which made it difficult for her to breathe properly, especially when she was on a ventilator.
On June 23, 2015, Jayalalitha had an echocardiogram done. It revealed that her heart had grade-1 diastolic dysfunction and'vegetation' in the mitral valve of her heart--an infected growth caused by bacterial activity.
But her cardiologist, Dr Sajan Karunakar Hedge, from Apollo Hospitals in Chennai, had assured that she would recover if she was given pain-relievers and medication to reduce the vegetation. The'vegetation', however, persisted and her condition worsened to the point where she had to be admitted in Apollo Hospitals for treatment.
She was treated by a team of doctors from Apollo Hospitals in Chennai and a team of specialists from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in Delhi, over five visits to Apollo Hospitals between September and December. A 'tracheostomy', a surgical procedure that allows the patient to breathe through a tube instead of using their nose and mouth, was done on October 7.
The 'tracheostomy' procedure did help her breathe. But it was not enough and she continued to be critical, despite treatment that included non-invasive ventilation, ECMO and other organ-supportive measures. Eventually, she died of acute sepsis on December 5, 2016.