Delicate open-heart surgery performed on 6-day-old baby

Baby was diagnosed with a complex birth anomaly

A delicate open-heart surgery was successfully performed on a 6-day-old baby at Star Pinnacle Heart Centre at Health City here recently.

The baby was diagnosed with a complex birth anomaly called Transposition of Great Arteries (TGA), commonly known as ‘blue baby’ as the colour of the body would be blue. TGA, seen in 10 to 20 babies in 1 lakh births, is life-threatening condition and over 90% of such babies do not survive for more than a month, Dr. L. Vijay, Consultant Cardiac surgeon, told the media here on Saturday.

He said it was a challenge to operate on babies and our team achieved the feat after performing the complex and delicate surgery for about 7 hours. The baby was kept in the ICU for four days after the surgery and was discharged on the 10th day.

Dr. Vijay said that the anomaly was seen during the scanning of the mother during her 7th month of pregnancy.

The parents, Suresh and Devi of Mangalavaripeta mandal of Anakapalle mandal, were counselled and convinced to go for the surgery.

Replying to queries, Dr. Vijay said that the medicines have to be continued for two months after which the child could lead a normal life without the need for another surgery in later life. However, in 5 to 10% of the cases, problems could spring up in later life.

The surgery was done under NTR Arogyasri and part of the expenditure was borne by Dr. Gopichand Hrudaya Foundation, Hyderabad.

The other team members who were involved in the surgery were Dr. PSS Srinivas, Dr. T. Kiran Babu and Dr. K. Subba Rao.

Dr. Gopichand, MD of Star Pinnacle Heart Centre, and Dr. G.V. Reddy, senior consultant cardiologist, were present.