A 22-day-old infant girl, who underwent a balloon angioplasty to treat a narrow heart valve just 12 hours after she was born blue, was discharged from Apollo Hospital, Belapur, on Monday.
The baby was born to Jyoti and Rahul Tripathi, an IT professional, after eight years of marriage. Mr. Tripathi said, “After a lot of treatment, when we finally had a baby, it was distressing to see her suffering this way.”
The baby was born in a hospital in Kharghar, and the doctors there recommended a few hospitals for the surgery to the parents. “We chose Apollo. She had to undergo surgery early in the morning the very next day. After being on ventilator support for four days and in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) for close to 18 days, she is now finally coming home. These 22 days were an emotional rollercoaster for us,” Mr. Tripathi said.
Rare and critical
Dr. Bhushan Chavan, consultant, paediatric cardiology, Apollo Hospitals, said that the baby was diagnosed with critical aortic valve stenosis of a major valve. “Only 0.8% of children born suffer from congenital heart issues, of which only 5% face such a condition, which has a very high mortality rate. The baby had around 65% saturation, which means there was no blood flow across the valve. The biggest challenge was to mobilise such a small baby. We had to be very careful while opening the valve,” Dr. Chavan said.
He said there was no specific cause for such conditions. “The critical cases need immediate surgery, children with severe cases undergo the procedure as soon as possible, and mild cases can be treated with medicines,” the doctor said.
Free surgeries
When Apollo Hospitals launched its first tertiary care multi-speciality hospital in Navi Mumbai, it had committed to treat around 66 paediatric cardiac patients from underprivileged families at no cost.
Till now, 22 such procedures have been completed. Of these, 11 infants underwent open heart surgeries and the remaining 11 were treated with interventional, that is non-surgical, procedures.
One of these babies is 11-month-old Harsh Tamboli from Rasayani in Raigad district. His father, Prashant, said, “He had constant cold and cough, which a local doctor used to treat. But since there was no relief, he suggested we get an x-ray, which revealed Harsh had heart issues. I am disabled, and cannot work to earn enough for his treatment. My family survives on my father’s income from farming. I had thought I would lose my child, till I found out about Apollo’s free treatment for underprivileged people and approached the hospital.”
Dr. Chavan said Harsh had an abnormal heartbeat, and was found to have severe valvular aortic stenosis with preserved ventricular function. “He was in critical condition when he came to the hospital with 98% saturation, which means there was a little flow across the valve due to which the baby survived for 11 months. However, mortality rates for such conditions are very high. The baby’s heart has now returned to normal after an interventional procedure. He was discharged the day after the procedure,” he said.
Doctors say paediatric cardiac cases in children from underprivileged families usually go undiagnosed.
Dr. Narendra Trivedi, CEO, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, said, “Through this initiative, we aim not only to deliver quality of life and the best healthcare facilities to the underprivileged, but also to create more awareness on heart health of the baby right from pregnancy.”
