A team of doctors from Care Hospitals, Banjara Hills, on Wednesday claimed to have successfully conducted a heart surgery on an infant within hours of her birth. The infant, who had a rare congenital defect, was born at 6.45 a.m. on Saturday last and was wheeled into the operation theatre by 7.45 a.m. and underwent surgery between 8.30 a.m. and 11.30 p.m., doctors said.
According to surgeons, during foetal echocardiography, which is a test to find cardiac ailments in foetal stage, they detected that the foetus had Total Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Drainage (TAPVR). “It is a rare condition in which blood from lungs that should go to the heart is diverted to liver. In foetal stage, mother supplies the blood to the baby and hence the condition is not dangerous. But, the condition is fatal after the baby’s birth,” said Dr. K.Tapan Dash, paediatric heart surgeon. The baby has recovered and ready for discharge.