Baby undergoes open heart surgery at PGI

“The surgery was performed 15 days ago and the baby is doing quite well. He has undergone arterial switch surgery successfully,a first to be performed at PGI. Since the surgery is successful,the baby can lead a normal life and should not encounter any complication due to the congenital heart disease that he suffered from,” said Prof Shyam T Singh,Head,Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.

Transposition of Great Arteries (TGA) is an abnormality of the heart vessels that is present from birth. Babies born with this defect do not survive for more than one year if an open heart surgery is not performed.

TGA is the condition where the main arteries in the body are reversed. While in a normal heart,the aorta is attached to the left side of the heart and the pulmonary artery is attached to the right side of the heart,in TGA the position of the arteries is reversed and blood is supplied in wrong areas.

“Of the 1,000 babies born,at least five to eight are born with some congenital heart disease. But out of this small proportion of babies,only 8-10 per cent has TGA. This explains that the complication is quite rare and tiny details have to be kept in mind while operating the patient. There is virtually no margin of error,” added Prof Singh.

The team of doctors involved Prof Shyam T Singh,Head,Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery,Dr V K Arya,Additional Professor,Department of Anesthesia,Dr Rohit Manoj,Associate Professor,Department of Cardiology and Dr Sachin Kuthe,Assistant Professor,Department of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery.