Chandigarh: Close on the heels of a seven-month-old undergoing a liver transplant in a Delhi hospital, doctors at PGIMER here successfully conducted an open heart surgery on a three-week-old.

The surgery was conducted on a 2.5 kg girl child suffering from pulmonary atresia -- a condition which results in severe narrowing of the artery carrying blood to the lung, Additional Professor, Cardiovascular Surgery Dr Rana Sandeep Singh told reporters here.

He said a week after her birth, Manpreet -- mother of the child -- noticed that the baby had some difficulty in breathing and she felt the baby was turning blue slowly. She then brought her to PGIMER s paediatric emergency on August 31.

"After the child was brought to us, an echo-cardiography was done by Dr Rohit Manjo Kumar (paediatric cardiologist), which revealed that the infant had pulmonary atresia, a condition which occurs in 5-10 per cent babies suffering from congenital heart disease," he said.

Dr Rana said the child was immediately shifted to neonatal intensive care unit where it was ensured that blood flow to the lungs was maintained.

"We later gave the family members the option of either a closed heart surgery, also known as BT shunt, which most families and hospitals prefer as it involves undertaking less risk. The shunt technique involves treating the condition temporarily and corrective surgery is required after a few years. However, it was decided to treat her in one go, which involved lot of risk," he informed.

Rana said the child was prepared for intra-cardiac repair but the nature of the surgery, which took place on September 26,was also made complicated because the infant had severe jaundice and blood coagulation defects.
Source : PTI