Complex Surgery Saves 3-Day-Old Infant With Rare Condition

One fine day, a 3-day baby with a serious heart defect landed up at CARE Hospitals. The infant, Saveen Kumar, was the son of Pushpalata.

The heart structures of the infant were altered. Only a complex arterial switch operation could save the child. Performing this surgery on an infant weighing just 1400 grams was ridiculously difficult. In fact, it was the first time in India that an arterial switch was performed on an infant with such a low weight.

With an oxygen saturation level of 40%, the child had a visibly blue appearance prior to the surgery. However, post-surgery, the child has become perfectly fine with an oxygen saturation level of 100%.

Dr. Tapan Dash, Chief Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon, led a team of doctors to perform this complex, life-saving surgery. Apart from Dr. Dash, the other doctors who performed the surgery included Chief Pediatric Cardiologist Dr. K Nageshwar Rao, Dr. Anand, Dr. Ramakrishna and  Dr. Rhazane.

Dr. Tapan Dash had this to say, “Saveen Kumar had an extremely rare congenital heart defect. He was born blue and would have died very soon unless his condition was surgically corrected. The great arteries in the child were transposed with an abnormal coronary artery. In a child weighing more than 2 kg, it would have been a common surgery. But in the case of Saveen Kumar, who weighed just 1400 gms, the surgery was quite complex.”

“The aorta—supposed to originate from left side of the heart—had developed from the right side. Similarly, the lung artery—supposed to originate from the right—had emanated from the left. This rare disease occurs in 2 out of 10,000 births. The extremely low weight of the baby made the operation quite challenging. Moreover, the infant had a tiny 4-cm heart.”

The child recovered completely within 5 days after the surgery. The entire cost of the procedure was covered under the Government-sponsored Aarogyasri scheme.