Pre-term baby successfully undergoes life-saving cardiac surgery

A 27-week-old pre-term baby, weighing about 750 grams, successfully underwent a life-saving cardiac intervention procedure at a private hospital here.

Announcing that the procedure was successfully conducted on the child on March 24, MGM Healthcare, the multi-specialty quaternary care hospital, on Tuesday claimed that this pre-term baby is one of the smallest one in the country to undergo this procedure.

Pediatric Cardiac Intervention cardiologists Dr Rajesh Kumar and Dr Ramyashri performed the surgery under the leadership of Dr K R Balakrishnan, chairman and director of Cardiac Sciences and director of the Heart and Lung Transplant Programme at MGM Healthcare.

The baby was struggling for life in ventilator for almost one month since birth in the neonatal ICU here. ''The baby had one large congenital heart defect called PDA (patent ductus arteriosus) which required closure for survival. After discussion with parents and surgical experts, we decided to use a special device with new technology for intervention closure, considering the co-morbidities for open surgery,'' said doctors Rajesh Kumar and Ramyashri.

The baby was shifted back to the neonatal ICU on the same day the procedure was done and with the oxygen requirements coming down, the child will be discharged once desired weight is achieved, the hospital said in a statement here.

''Usually these techniques are commonly done in children who weigh over 2 kg,'' the doctors said and thanked the multidisciplinary team, the management and NGO Aishwarya Trust for the support.