Gurugram, Jun 3 (IANS): A 10-year-old boy, Vinay (name changed), who belongs to an economically weaker section, suffered a major penetrating injury in the chest while playing with his friends.

A sharp object penetrated the front of his chest and within minutes he lost consciousness and was unable to breathe. His family rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was given first aid. As the child's condition was deteriorating rapidly, he was referred to the Artemis Hospital in Gurugram and upon reaching an Emergency room, it was found that he was not breathing, and his heart had also stopped working.

Immediately, the Pediatrics and Emergency team initiated Resuscitation (CPR) to revive the child. There was severe blood loss already which was not stopping and made it certain that there is a major injury to the heart.

His heartbeat and breathing had stopped because of the massive blood loss from the injury. Immediately a tube was inserted (ICD placement) on the left side of the chest to relieve pressure on the heart and lungs. Around 500 ml of frank blood came out with a gush.

Realizing the critical situation of the child, Dr Aseem R Srivastava (Head of Pediatric Cardiac Surgery), Artemis hospital was called in and the child was rushed to the Paediatric Cardiac Surgery Operation Theatre with ongoing CPR.

Thereafter, Dr Aseem along with his team opened the breast bone (bone in the front of the chest) to realize that there was a 2 cm penetrating hole in the heart that was spurting blood all over and the chest was full of blood.

He performed the surgery and the injury was repaired with sutures and the cardiac massage was continued until the lost blood was replaced. After this surgery the blood pressure picked up gradually and his heart rate and heartbeat stabilized.

Dr Aseem said, "There was a penetrating wound in the right ventricle of heart which was repaired. With such massive cardiac injury, survival is rare and unheard of. Most people die before reaching the hospital because of massive blood loss. This child survived because the team identified immediately that the heart has been punctured. Post surgery, the patient stayed on ventilator support, in the Pediatric Cardiac ICU, for about 2 days and started breathing on his own on the third day of surgery. He later walked out of the hospital with absolutely normal situation".

Dr Devlina Chakravarty, Managing Director, Artemis Hospitals said, "We are more than happy to see the child back with his family that too perfectly recovered".

"We are grateful to the doctors and entire team of the Hospital who gave our child second life. We don't have enough words to thank them," Vinay's parents said.