20-day-old baby undergoes 'high risk' surgery for congenital heart defect in Delhi

A 20-day-old baby boy underwent a "high risk" surgery at a city hospital for a congenital heart defect in which the large vessels, responsible for carrying blood to the body, are improperly connected, doctors said Tuesday.

At the time of admission, the child was on ventilation and weighed 2.2 kg, they said.

He was allowed to grow a little more so that he weighed at least 2.8-3 kgs before the the "major open heart surgery" was performed, Apollo Hospital said in a statement.

Within a week after the child's birth, his parents noticed discolouration in his skin tone. They took him to a local doctor where his echocardiogram was conducted and it was found that he suffered from transposition of the great arteries, it said.

 

Transposition of the great arteries is a congenital heart defect where the large blood vessels that carry blood to the lungs and rest of the body are connected in the exact opposite way as compared to a normal heart's structure, it added.

"The baby was kept in critical care on ventilation for a week but unfortunately his condition didn't improve and he was not able to come off the ventilator," the hospital said.

"In transposition of the great arteries, the aorta is connected to the right ventricle, and the pulmonary artery is connected to the left ventricle, which is an exact opposite of a normal heart anatomy," Muthu Jothi, pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon who conducted the surgery with his team, said.

Every time the doctors tried to take him off the ventilation or lower the ventilation, he used to get breathless and turn blue, he said.

Adding to the criticality, the 20-day-old baby also had two big holes in his heart, the statement said.

Considering the criticality of the baby's condition, the team of expert cardiologists, anaesthetist and intensivist performed a five-hour-long surgical procedure, it said.

"I had quoted a risk of about 25-40 per cent which is a huge risk but considering the child's condition and only after getting the family's consent, we performed the surgery," Jothi said.

The child recuperated enough to go home after 10-12 days post the surgery. He is doing absolutely fine now and is gaining weight too, the pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon added.