Kolhapur Govt Medical College saves 6-year-old boy whose heart’s pumping dropped to 15%

“He was initially given no hope for recovery and advised to seek further treatment in Mumbai. However, his family decided to take a third opinion from the government hospital in Kolhapur,” said Dr Bafna.

After a thorough evaluation, Dr Bafna and his team decided to perform a contrastless balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV), a delicate and minimally invasive procedure that opens the narrowed aortic valve using a specialised balloon (12 and 14 mm evascular balloon) catheter inserted through the femoral artery, a vessel only 2–3 mm wide in a child of this age. The procedure was successfully performed by the interventional cardiologist at RCSM Medical College.

“The child was in a very critical condition due to the severely weakened heart (the pumping of the heart chamber was just 15 per cent, as against the normal of 70 per cent in children), but the procedure went smoothly under light sedation with local anaesthesia. The valve gradient dropped significantly, his blood pressure and his heart function started improving,” Dr Bafna added.

According to the doctors, the patient is now stable and showing steady recovery. Doctors expect further improvement in his heart function with continued medical management and regular follow-up.