Good news arrived a day before Eid for this family from Saharanpur, Uttar Pradesh whose 14-month-old child Zubir was successfully operated upon by doctors at the city’s BLK Children’s Heart Institute at BLK Super Speciality Hospital on Monday.
The child was diagnosed with Patent Ductus Arteriosus (PDA) -- a heart problem where there is an abnormal blood flow between two of the major arteries connected to the heart.
“The child was brought to us by his father Mohammad Rushid who lives in a mosque in Saharanpur and is from the economically weaker section of the society.
He had been running from pillar to post when he finally reached our hospital,” said Vikas Kohli, director and head of department at the Institute.
The doctors at the Institute after examining the child found that Zubir’s condition was causing flooding and putting high pressure on his lungs.
“Additionally it resulted in recurrence of pneumonia and so the child was not gaining weight, and remained only 7 kg. Ideally he should have been 11 kg of weight under normal conditions,” said Dr. Kohli.
“PDA is present in all of us when we are in the mother’s womb. It’s a bypass for the lungs since they are non-functional in utero. This bypass track is supposed to close within first few days after birth. But in Zubair’s case it failed to close,’’ explained Dr. Kohli.
The challenge for the doctors here was to close the opening without surgery considering the patient’s age and weight.
The procedure was carried out without general anaesthesia (under deep sedation so that the patient can get up immediately after the procedure and take a feed early after the procedure).
“It was done through the groin vein. The process is similar to an angioplasty. From the groin the wire was passed into the heart and the PDA was crossed. Over this a catheter (a plastic tube like the ball pen refill but much longer) was passed over the wire to close the opening,’’ informed Dr. Kohli.
PDA can affect full-term infants; it's more common in premature infants. On average, PDA occurs in about 8 out of every 1,000 premature babies, compared with 2 out of every 1,000 full-term babies.
Speaking about the successful medical intervention, Md. Rushid said: “I am thankful to the doctor and his team who agreed to offer the treatment and bear 75 per cent of the cost. My son is healthy now and we are happy to go back to celebrate Eid with the family.”
