FIRST TIME IN INDIA
One day old infant operated for rare heart surgery at Shree Krishna Hospital

It's the first of its kind in India . On Saturday, a team of four doctors , led by Dr Zeena Makhija, Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon at Shree Krishna Hospital, Karamsad operated on a one day old infant for a rare life saving heart surgery lasting four and a half hours. This is the first time in India that the complicated heart surgery through the Norwood procedure was performed on a one day old infant.
The infant had a rare condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. In this, the left side of the heart is not developed which means that the heart is basically functioning with two chambers instead of normal four chambers. The main vessel(aorta) responsible for supplying pure blood to the body was also very small in size. With no way of pure blood reaching the body, the child had little hope of survival without surgery.Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) causes 23% cardiac deaths in the first week after a baby is born. HLHS causes 15% deaths in the first month after birth.

The girl child was delivered at a hospital in Petlad. A pre natal test at seven months had revealed that baby had multiple heart defects . The parents, an engineer and a lecturer , were devastated. There was no clarity as to what exactly was wrong with the heart of the baby.The day the baby was born, she was separated from the mother right after birth and referred to Shree Krishna Hospital.
The child was urgently admitted to ICU and complex life saving surgery was performed on the first day of life of the baby through the Norwood procedure.
In this procedure the baby is operated and the heart's right ventricle is connected to the aorta to restore blood supply to the rest of the body. An artificial tube is implanted in the ventricle to serve as the pulmonary artery, which supplies blood to the lungs. The first few days are critical and involve meticulous and tedious care.

This was possible only due the state of the art healthcare facilities at the Bhanubhai Madhuben Patel Cardiac centre of Shree Krishna Hospital, Karamsad.It is one of the most advanced Centers having multidisciplinary paediatric support infrastructure under one roof with telemedicine services . The committed team of Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Paediatric Cardiac Intensivists, Paediatric interventional Cardiologists and anaesthetists have ensured that even the most complicated cases are dwelt with effectively. It specialises in treatment of complex cases often refused by other centres and its intervention rates are in line with internationally recognised gold standards.


eena Makhi