HYDERABAD: A Maharashtrian couple, whose three-day-old baby boy underwent a rare procedure to KIMS Cuddles here, can’t thank the doctors enough. The infant had developed respiratory issues and had to undergo a 12-hour surgery to be able to continue breathing.
Usually, doctors perform such surgeries only on children at least four weeks old. In this case, the doctors said, they had no other option to save the infant than to go ahead with the procedure.
“Antenatal scans of the baby boy born in the Nanded district of Maharashtra were normal. However, around 12 hours later, the parents noticed respiratory distress. He was rushed to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) with respiratory distress and bluish skin discolouration. Given the sensitivity of the condition, a NICU team of doctors, led by Dr C. Aparna, chief neonatologist and head of neonatology at KIMS Cuddles, transferred the baby on non-invasive ventilation,” hospital sources informed.
Paediatric cardiologist Dr Sudeep Verma diagnosed the baby with a large transposition of great arteries (TGA ), a birth defect in which the two main arteries carry blood out of the heart swap positions. The baby was intubated and connected to mechanical ventilation support.
After a 12-hour surgical procedure called ‘arterial switch’, the transposed arteries were duly placed to the right and left chambers of the heart, and the large hole was also closed. However, during the surgery, the doctors diagnosed the presence of a single coronary artery, which complicated the procedure.