6-year-old boy with heart on his right side of chest survives complex cardiac surgery

Image credit: DNA

New Delhi: In yet another rare medical feat achieved by Indian doctors, a six-year-old boy with a complex heart defect underwent a successful critical heart surgery at the Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre in Mumbai.

As per reports, Sanket More was diagnosed with congenital transposition of the great arteries – a rare heart defect in which the heart ventricles (heart chambers) are reversed.

The boy also had additional complications as he had a large hole in the heart and the artery to the lungs was narrow. His heart was located on the right side of the chest.

Dwarka More, Sanket’s mother said that he used to get chest pain constantly and was loosing weight. “He had a breathing problem and his body colour use to turn blue,” she added

“There are very few such cases globally. We had to refer case papers to understand the condition better. The boy's heart was on the right side, with abnormally coursing arteries, and the hole in his heart complicating the case further,” Dr Shiv Prakash Krishnanaik, a paediatric cardiac surgeon who operated on Sanket, was quoted as saying.

The complex surgery, which took place on May 19, was performed by a team comprising eight doctors, five nurses and technicians.

“The position of the heart, and ventricles within were corrected, the hole was repaired, and a cow valve was used to widen the narrow artery to the lungs, added Dr Krishnanaik, Head, Paediatric Cardiac Sciences Department, HN Reliance Foundation Hospital.

Doctors said that twelve hours after the surgery, ventilator was removed from the child.

The boy is been constantly monitored by the doctors and he has been kept in the ICU.