HYDERABAD: In a procedure that doctors claimed to be the first of its kind in the country, a rare fetal heart procedure was conducted at Care Hospitals in Banjara Hills where it was performed on an undelivered baby in mother’s womb.
The mother, Sirisha (25), is a science teacher at a private school and was informed that there was a heart defect in her fetus. “We almost lost our hope because it is still a fetus. We approached the doctors who encouraged us not to give up hope,” she said.
Explaining the procedure, Dr Nageshwar Rao, chief pediatrician at the hospital, said they performed a fetal echocardiogram and found a major heart defect in the fetus. “There was a severe obstruction in the aortic valve which resulted in failure of pumping of blood to the left ventricle of the body,” he explained. “We followed her every week with fetal heart scan and observed changes of further damage in the form of shrinkage of left sided heart chambers,” he added.
The doctors explained that the procedure was first attempted during the 26th week of pregnancy. “However, it could not be done as the fetal position was not favouring us. We waited for a good fetal procedure and, a week later, gave intramuscular injection through mother’s abdomen, advanced it into the baby’s chest and finally to the left ventricle. With an appropriate balloon and wire, the aortic valve was dilated to retrieve the valve block,” he added.
As of now, the condition of the fetus is healthy and the doctors claim that no further complications were expected. “We have been closely observing the fetus. After the procedure, there is no retardation in the the growth and the pumping action is also good and the umbilical blood flow is fine,” Dr Nageshwar Rao said.