HYDERABAD: An 11-day-old baby, diagnosed with a life threatening abnormality, has undergone a high risk and rare cardiac surgery and got a new lease of life at a private hospital here. The Pediatric Cardiology team at the Apollo Hospital successfully performed the one-of-its-kind complex cardiac surgery on the prematurely born tiny tot suffering from Ebstein’s Anomaly - a critical congenital heart ailment.
Dr Prameela Sekhar, Obstetrician, said, “The baby was diagnosed with this life threatening abnormality when he was still in the womb. The parents were given the option to terminate, but they did not consider it as this baby was their first child.
We took utmost care to meet any contingency during the birth of the baby considering his precarious medical condition. The baby being born prematurely at 34 weeks of gestation coupled with growth retardation presented a challenge to the team.” “He was placed on ventilator support soon after birth and we hoped to manage him medically for a few months before surgery could be planned,” Dr. Sharmila Kaza, Pediatrician said.
But as they say nothing goes as planned. A natural connection between the baby’s aorta and the artery to the lungs called ductus arteriosus was closing. This connection had to be kept open using a special medicine for taking blood to the lungs for oxygenation.
The closure of the artery would have snuffed out the baby’s. Therefore, the cardiac surgery was performed to restore blood flow to the lungs. Dr Girish Warrier, Senior Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, who led the team in performing the surgery, said the surgery was especially challenging because of the baby’s deteriorating condition. The baby’s weight, size of its heart (no bigger than the thumb) and organs presented a problem.
“The child tolerated the procedure well and was shifted to the intensive care unit. Due to postoperative infection, the infant’s blood platelets count fell drastically from 2.5 lakhs to 4000. But he fought back and gradually recovered and was sent home in 19 days,” Sharmila said.