NEW DELHI: A 14-month-old Pakistani infant suffering from abnormal growth of his heart’s left atrium—a rare condition among infants—received a fresh lease of life after being operated on at a private hospital here.
Though the operation was conducted in 2016, the case recently made it to the peer-reviewed journal, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. The child’s condition has now stabilised and he is recuperating well, said doctors at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, where the procedure was conducted. The surgery cost around Rs 3 lakh in 2016, according to doctors.
In cases like this, if surgery is not done, the child would not live more than two or three years, said the doctors. A giant left atrium is a rare condition among children, especially those below the age of
two years.
The baby was referred to India, and when brought to the hospital, he was found to be unable to be fed properly, was suffering recurrent chest infections, and could not move about for long due to breathlessness. His growth was also inhibited and he weighed just 6.5 kg at the time of admission to the hospital.
The medical investigations showed that the left atrium was dilated, and was four times the expected size, and it was pressing on the nearby airway structures in the chest.“When the left atrium increases in size, it causes complications by compressing adjacent structures such as the food pipe, spine and pulmonary vessels. After surgery, these complications are resolved,” said Dr Mridul Aggarwal, paediatric cardiologist at the hospital. The surgery was both complex and challenging, said Dr Raja Joshi, chairperson, paediatric cardiac surgery, at the private hospital.
Why it is notable
Due to the rarity of the condition, the successful surgery has been mentioned in the peer-reviewed journal, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery