Teen boy gets shot at life after 5-hour heart surgery

August 01, 2012 03:23 am | Updated 03:23 am IST - CHENNAI:

Milind, a 14-year-old boy received a new lease of life with the help of the surgery performed by a team of cardio thoracic surgeons at MIOT hospitals. The five-hour-long surgery, performed on July 14, successfully corrected the condition he had developed from a congenital disorder.

The boy, a resident of Mumbai, was diagnosed with Noonan’s syndrome in 2003. The condition is an autosomal congenital disorder which leads to the narrowing of his heart valve, formation of multiple holes in his heart and a depressed breast bone. After consulting several doctors and surgeons in Mumbai, his father approached V.V. Bashi, the Chairman of the Centre for Thoracic and Cardio Vascular Care at MIOT hospitals.

At the age of four, Milind was found to have a large hole in his heart. He then developed progressive breathlessness and difficulty in sleeping. During treatment to repair the hole, he was found to have a large aneurysm of the aorta along with a leak in his aortic valve. In addition, Milind had a chest wall abnormality due to a depressed breastbone pushing his heart completely to the left side of the chest cavity. Due to such a complication, unlike other conventional surgeries where the procedure is performed through the midline, they had to make cuts in the left side of his chest.

“The surgery was a tricky one since the heart was pushed to the left side which made it harder to make the stitches. Also, the visibility was less since we had to make special cuts on the left side of his chest,” Dr. Bashi said. Due to the abnormal positioning of his heart, his left was partially functioning thereby causing the difficulty in breathing. The surgeons repaired the hole and replaced the leaking aortic valve with a synthetic mechanical aorta and connected the blood vessels to the tube.

Milind has recovered from the surgery. Given his blood clotting problem, he will have to be on blood thinners for the rest of his life. Though he will have to wait for several years before he can have a bone correctional surgery to repair his depressed breastbone, Milind, will be able to pursue his interest in cricket in the near future.

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