Two children underwent cardiac surgeries for rare congenital anomalies at the Government Children’s Hospital in Egmore.
Selvan Heyram, aged seven, was admitted to the hospital on June 11 from Thanjavur. “The child came with complaints of breathlessness and cough. He was not able to even play because of heart failure,” said P. Moorthy, head, cardiaothoracic surgery department, at the hospital.
“The child had a large hole in the heart but when he was on the surgery table, to our surprise, we diagnosed a rare heart defect called five-chambered heart. Around 0.1 per cent of all congenital heart defects maybe due to this. On July 18, we operated on the child and removed the chamber which obstructed the important pumping left ventricle,” the surgeon said.
When eight-year-old Sajitha was brought from Salem on June 26, she complained of pain in her legs and was unable to play. The doctors revisited the surgery they had performed on her in 2007 for abnormal connection between great arteries.
“At that time, narrowing of the aorta had been detected. As the child grew, it became severe and occlusion occurred, preventing supply of pure blood to the lower part of the body,” Dr. Moorthy said.
The doctors diagnosed the condition as occlusion of the blood vessel.
If the child had not been operated upon, it would have led to hypertension and nasal bleeding which could have turned fatal.
