Medica Superspecialty Hospital has conducted a rare and critical operation on a 3-year-old girl
KOLKATA, May 2 (The CONNECT) - Medica Superspecialty Hospital has conducted a rare and critical operation on a 3-year-old girl child with a very uncommon birth-related heart disease. The team of experienced doctors from departments of pediatric and congenital heart disease, under the supervision of Dr. Anil Kumar Singhi, Senior Consultant, ensured one of the most unexpected recoveries in recent time.
In 2019, while the Bhattacharjee family from Hooghly were cherishing the moment of their first child, they were traumatized to learn that their child had an unusual heartbeat which could be the only sign that she has PDA (Patent ductus arteriosus - a heart problem that occurs soon after birth in some babies, which usually goes away after 72 hours) or a hole in the heart. After a month of frequent checkups in the hospital, the sound did not stop. Their family pediatrician referred the child was referred to Dr. Singhi.
A thorough diagnosis at Medica showed that the child had an abnormal connection between the two heart chambers. An unusually long tunnel was abruptly twisted backward and linked to the right atrium (the upper right chamber of the heart that receives impure blood from the body) from the left side of the aorta (the principal artery transporting pure blood from the left lower heart chamber to the body). That abnormal tunnel was draining out blood from three openings of the upper right chamber of the heart which could have resulted in the swelling of blood vessels, or Ischemia (a condition in which the blood flows out resulting in oxygen restriction or reduction) in the cardiac muscle.
Due to numerous risk factors associated with the unusual tunnel, it was decided to seal the tunnel after a few months of examination. The entire process got delayed for 2 years due to the pandemic. On April 5, 2022, when the child was 3 years old, she was eventually admitted to Medica for her due treatment.
Dr. Singhi, who is also the Head, Department of Pediatric and Congenital Heart Disease, at the super specialty hospital, said, “The little girl had visited us in an ill state with heart failure symptoms. The diagnosis of the extremely rare condition in the child was challenging. The child required intense medical therapy and close supervision to allow her to grow initially. Managing the distressed family in the COVID-19 pandemic was again a nightmare as procedures had to be deferred. It was an incredibly challenging method due to the difficult pathway, alongside the abnormal tunnel is very rare and uncommon in the World. Transcatheter closure in small children is rewarding for both the patient and the medical team. Worldwide, only a few instances of mainly surgical closure have been reported in the scientific literature. After all the challenges, and difficulties faced, we are extremely pleased to know that the child is doing extremely well, and we wish her and the family the very best in life.”
Bhattacharjee, the father of the child, stated, “Our hearts are filled with enormous joy after seeing our daughter’s smile and laugh once again."