Sandhya’s baby (Name Changed) was a preterm female baby born at 31 weeks and weighed 1.080kgs at birth. She was one of the twins and was delivered early because of poor growth. She was admitted in KMCH, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) for preterm care under care of Neonatologists Dr.A.R.Srinivas and Dr. R.Balakrishnan.
Initially baby had breathing difficulties which settled down by 5th day and then baby had low BP on legs and ECHO test showed a major critical congenital heart disease called Coarctation of Aorta. In this condition the Aorta which is the major blood vessel which supplies arterial blood was very narrow and the blood supply to the kidney, intestines and the legs were severely impaired.
The findings were confirmed in CT angiogram which showed that the narrowest portion of aorta was only 1mm instead of being at least 6 to 8mm. Though coarctation repair is done in big children (> 3 kg), this baby was too small (1kg) and doing a major cardiac surgery in this baby was a huge challenge and was very risky.
But there was no option other than surgery because this is an emergency life threatening condition. After explaining high risk to parents, baby underwent repair of coarctation of aorta in KMCH by Dr. Prashanth Vaijyanath, Chief Cardiothoracic surgeon,
Surgery was completed successfully and baby was managed in KMCH, NICU during post operative period. Baby slowly improved after surgery and blood flow to the legs, kidneys and intestine improved which was confirmed with ECHO. Baby was slowly weaned from ventilator, given breast milk and successfully discharged at 5 weeks of age and the weight was 1.350kg.
Both the twin babies were healthy now and the parents were very happy with the outcome. Though the baby was small (1 kg) and the cardiac condition was critical and difficult to treat, doctors at KMCH were able to successfully treat, manage and discharge the baby home. This is a major milestone as such complicated and high risk cardiac surgery for a small baby is first of its kind in Western Tamil Nadu.
Congratulating the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Dr. Prashanth Vaijyanath, Dr.Nalla G.Palaniswami,Chairman, KMCH said “ we all are very happy to help the baby see the light of the day. With the advanced medical infrastructure available at KMCH, our skilled & experienced doctors were able to undertake this high-risk cardiac surgery and come out with successful results. Even at this pandemic period, our doctors are extremely committed on saving lives while risking theirs. I congratulate the NICU team and everyone involved in the success of this surgery”