Rare heart surgery saves life of an infant

First of its kind in the country on two-hour old girl child

The paediatric cardiology team at Care Hospital, Banjara Hills, performed a rare heart surgery on an infant. The team of doctors were led by Dr K Nageswara Rao, paediatric cardiologist.

The baby who was just hours-old was diagnosed with a critical congenital heart disease called ‘Obstructive Infradiaphragmatic Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage’ when she was in her mother’s womb.

Dr K Nageswara Rao said that it was a very complex surgery and was conducted within two hours after the infant’s birth. It was a first-of-its-kind surgery done in the country.

The parents of the infant are Anuradha and Narasimulu who hail from Saidapur Colony, Kondapur Mandal. Narasimulu is a worker at a market in the city.

“When Anuradha had come for a routine check-up during her 7th month of pregnancy, the doctors conducted a foetal echocardiography on Anuradha and found that the baby had a critical heart disease called Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage (TAPVR), in which the pure blood from the lungs is diverted to the liver instead of left atrium.

When in womb, the mother supplies pure blood to the baby during the foetal stage, and there would be no danger, but after the baby’s birth, the condition of TAPVR would be disastrous,” said Dr Nageswara Rao.

He added, “We took the baby out by performing a caesarean surgery on the mother on January 4, 2014. After the initial stabilisation of respiratory and circulatory systems, we started the surgery on the infant. The surgery took about three hours. A total of 14 doctors including medical experts from other hospitals were involved in the case. After the surgery, the baby was put on ventilator for three days. Her condition is stable, now. For one year she will have to undergo regular health check-ups”.

“The disease identified in the baby is very rare. It is really a challenging task for a paediatric cardiologist. Even a small mistake during the surgery can cost a life. This type of case is found in one child in every one lakh children. There are several reasons for its occurrence such as genetic reasons, viral infections and radiation effects,” said Dr Tapan Das, paediatric cardiologist.

“The expenditure of the surgery was Rs 6 lakh. And the family garnered Rs 1.25 lakh under the Aarogyasri scheme. The rest of the money was written off by the hospital,” he added.

Other doctors involved in this operation were: Dr Srinivas Murthy, Dr Malgini, Dr Pallavi, Dr Vijaya Anand and others.