BENGALURU, INDIA — Dr. Devi Prasad Shetty draws a Jamieson sucker-dissector along the pulmonary artery of a patient at Narayana Institute of Cardiac Sciences, a 718-bed hospital that’s part of Narayana Hrudayalaya, a chain of 32 hospitals he founded and chairs. Dissecting the artery so he can open it and remove the blood clots that have formed inside is the most delicate move he will perform during this six- to eight-hour pulmonary thromboendarterectomy: If the plane of his instrument turns even half a millimeter, he could breach the artery wall. The injury would be difficult to detect, as the patient’s circulation is halted for the surgery, and it often results in death.

Shetty doesn’t allow such thoughts to distract him. He appears relaxed as he completes the dissection and then, using his gloved fingers, removes the clots blocking the artery. “Surgery happens in three phases,” he says. First in a surgeon’s mind prior to the operation, then on the operating table, and then again in the mind postsurgery, when the doctor evaluates how performance could be further improved. “For other surgeons, the next opportunity for improvement is after a few months, but in our […]