Boy With Rare Heart Condition Gets New Lease of Life

Doctors at Rajiv Gandhi Government General Hospital (GGH) in Chennai conducted a complex but successful surgery on a 14-year old boy suffering from multiple heart complications and giving him a new lease of life. Chandran, a son of an agricultural laborer from Parithipuram in Villupuram district, was suffering from multiple congenital heart defects and his condition was diagnosed and managed at Jipmer until five years ago.

He was referred to GGH last year where doctors conducted a number of investigations and found that he had a ventricular septal defect, an overriding aorta, obstructed pulmonary valve, enlarged right ventricle and high blood pressure in his lungs.

Doctors led by Prof K S Ganesan performed a five-hour shunt procedure on October 5 and following recovery, Chandran can now go back home and lead a normal life. “When we opened up his heart we found the aorta and pulmonary artery emanated from the right ventricle, a unexpected complication. We created a bidirectional shunt in the superior vena cava that would take blood to the lungs. We also did an atrial spetectomy (made a hole between the two atria to lower pressure on the ventricles) with Azygos (vein) litigation, thus providing an alternative path for blood to flow into the right atrium” Prof Ganesan said.

Source-Medindia