New Lease of Life for 6-Month-Old Kenyan Baby with Rare Heart Flaw

Six-month-old Kenyan baby who was suffering from a rare congenital heart defect gets a new lease of life after Delhi doctors successfully treated him. Emmanuel Lila Kamank was diagnosed with this heart defect known as Taussig-Bing anomaly just four days after his birth.

Taussig-Bing anomaly is a malformation of the heart in which there is a transposition of the aorta to the right ventricle, which is a normal case should originate from the left ventricle.

Kamank was admitted at the Indraprastha Apollo Hospital in a cyanotic condition in which the skin develops a bluish discoloration due to lack of oxygen in the blood. He was put on a ventilator as he suffered a sudden respiratory arrest, which caused a cardiac attack.

Kamank's pulmonary artery was also wrongly positioned into the right ventricle. He also had a block in the aorta, as well as a defect caused by an open fetal blood vessel that should get closed soon after birth, Muthu Joshi, Senior Consultant, Paediatric Cardiothoracic surgeon, said in a statement on Thursday.

"It was a high-risk case with limited chances of success even with surgery. We devised a treatment plan for the baby and informed his family about the 50-60 percent surgical risk associated with it. As the family consented, we decided to go ahead with the procedure," Joshi said.

Kamank underwent a nine-hour surgery and was discharged after a week on the ventilator, he said.

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The child has returned to Kenya with his family and is doing well, the doctors said.

Source-IANS