Mangaluru: A two-day-old infant suffering from a complex heart ailment underwent a successful surgery here NICU at A.J. Hospital & Research Centre.
The baby weighing 2.3 kgs was admitted to the NICU at A.J. Hospital & Research Centre in Jan 2017.
A foetal Echo performed by Dr Prem Alva, Children’s Heart Specialist at the hospital revealed the baby having transposition of great arteries during the 5th month of pregnancy.
This is a condition where the two major blood vessels leaving the heart are connected to the wrong chambers of the heart, thus the blood containing oxygen which is required to nourish the body goes back into the lungs instead requiring urgent surgery.
Even though this condition accounts for approximately 5% of all children born with heart diseases, it is one of the few conditions that require surgery immediately after birth.
Dr. Gourav S Shetty, Children’s Heart Surgeon at AJ Hospital, Mangalore with his vast experience of having performed more than 200 surgeries of children counselled the parents of the baby.
Explaining that the procedure was complex and needed expertise since it was carried out on a heart smaller than the size of an egg, two major arteries smaller than a little finger and the vessels supplying blood to the heart smaller than ball point refill, all these abnormally coming from the heart needed to be corrected.
A medical team led by Dr Gourav S Shetty successfully carried out the surgery and the baby was thereafter taken care in the ITU by Dr Gururaj Tantry,Chief Cardiac Anesthetist & Intensivist, Dr Suhas Anesthetist and his team. On the seventh day the baby was discharged from the hospital. A week later the baby in a healthy condition along with his parents visited the hospital for a follow up session.
A.J. Hospital & Research Centre is the only Centre in coastal region which has the expertise to conduct such complex surgeries even on the newborns.
The hospital can be contacted over email:ajhospitalmarketing@gmail.com
