11-month baby goes thru complex cardiac surgery

Secunderabad: A team of doctors from Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Unit at KIMS Hospitals, here have given a new lease of life to a baby from Zimbabwe by performing a complex cardiac surgery called Unifocalization.

A 11-month-old baby from Zimbabwe was brought to the hospital with history of breathing difficulty and inability to feed properly. The weight of the baby was only 6.5 kg. On cardiac evaluation, the baby was found to have a very complex congenital cardiac problem called pulmonary atresia with MAPCAS (major aortopulmonary collaterals). This is rare congenital heart defect that is found after birth.

In this baby, the pulmonary artery from the right ventricle was absent leading to a condition called, pulmonary atresia. Because of this, the branches of the pulmonary artery to the right and left lung are very small. Hence, there was no blood going from the heart to the lungs.

On the other hand, the lungs have been receiving blood in an abnormal fashion by vessels called MAPCAS which take origin directly from the aorta that is going behind the heartdeep in the chest. There were four of them, two going to the right lung and two going to the left lung (as depicted in the diagram). This circulation is not normal and cannot be compatible with life.

To restore normal circulation and to give a life to the baby, the doctors performed a very major and difficult operation called Unifocalization. Unifocalization is a full day operation and takes lot of time since the MAPCAS are very fine vessels and have to be carefully dissected behind the heart deep in the chest.

This is a technically demanding operation and has been popularized in the world by the Stanford University group of surgeons in the USA. Dr. Anil Kumar Dharmapuram, the Pediatric Cardiac Surgeon who performed this surgery at KIMS Hospitals was trained in the Stanford University and has brought back the technology of this operation to KIMS Hospitals in Hyderabad.