Media Release
Udupi, Dec 3: Doctors at Kasturba Hospital Manipal have successfully performed paediatric cardiac surgeries on two patients.
Speaking about the successful surgeries Dr Guruprasad Rai, associate professor, department of Cardiovascular & Thoracic Surgery said, "As soon as we received the scan report, we identified that the child will be having heart diseases. We reassured the family about the feasibility of surgery and near-normal life expectancy. They got the mother admitted in Kasturba Hospital for delivery. The new born child underwent scan and Dr Gunjan Banga reconfirmed the earlier diagnosis. The baby had an aortic arch interruption with a ventricular septal defect. In the first week, the baby was taken care by Neonatologist Dr Leslie Lewis and team and operated by chief cardiac surgeon Dr Aravind Bishnoi. The baby underwent the operation and was discharged in 10 days.
Another newborn baby was transferred to Kasturba Hospital, Manipal from Shivamogga district due to suspicion of heart disease. The mother had a normal pregnancy and unfortunately, the heart condition was missed during the antenatal scan. After delivery, the baby was noted to be appearing blue and was not having normal oxygen in the body and was hence transferred here.
Speaking about the surgeries conducted, Dr Gunjan Banga, assistant professor, department of Cardiology said, "The second baby presented to us had missed heart condition scan during antenatal scan. We noted the baby to have a congenital heart disease known as Tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia wherein there is a large hole in the heart causing mixing of blood in the heart along with the absent flow to the lung artery from the heart. The blood was going to the lungs due to the presence of a connection called PDA (the connection between lung artery and aorta) in the newborn baby. However, PDA tends to close gradually after birth making this an extremely fatal condition if not intervened upon in the first week of life. The baby was started on medicine to keep the PDA open temporarily and then cardiac catheterization was performed by a team led by Dr Padmakumar R, an interventional cardiologist, and Dr Arvind Bishnoi, a paediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. All of this can be detected in antenatal test. This kind of diagnosis and care is being able to be provided here because of the team we have.”
Speaking about children's heart defects Dr Padmakumar, head, Cardiology department said, "Children can be having simple and complex heart defects at the time of birth. When it is complex birth defect, the baby needs urgent multiple surgeries. When the child may have possible complex heart defects, the family is given an option to abort or to continue with the pregnancy. Some of the children will be very sick. In such cases the family is advised to deliver the baby in a facilitated hospital where the child can undergo immediate care for its complex heart defect. We are finding that most of these children are now living a longer life compared to earlier days. It is a multiple team approach and these very sick children can be saved. Previously, all these surgeries were done in hospitals of Bengaluru, Chennai and other faraway places, but now these treatments are available at our footsteps at an affordable cost.”
Dr Arvind Bishnoi, professor and chief Cardiac surgeon at Kasturba Hospital, Manipal said, “Newborns with heart diseases are very fragile and need expert tender care. They need care from a big team of professionals from various interrelated domains. I feel blessed to be a part of this team.”
Addressing media, Dr Avinash Shetty, medical superintendent said, "It is one of the many stories which are testaments to the facilities available in the region at Kasturba Hospital. The treatment in such cases includes many departments’ involvement. Today, Kasturba hospital, Manipal is a leader in cardiology and cardiac surgery services in the coastal and middle Karnataka. Our aim is to provide good medical facility for the people of Karnataka at an affordable cost. In this regard, many new departments have been introduced in our hospital on a gradual basis. We used to refer the children to hospitals in Bengaluru and Chennai for such complex treatment. We had cases where the children were dying before reaching the treatment centre. Our doctors had these bitter experiences. Our management decided to include comprehensive paediatric department to handle such cases. I proudly say that the paediatric heart diseases treated at Kasturba Hospital have been performed successfully. The institute offers all types of cardiac treatment available at any other center in the world to adults, children and newborns. All together we can conquer congenital heart disease.”
Dr Padmaraj Hegde, deputy medical superintendent, Dr Apurv Barche, department of Neonatology, Dr Ganesh Kamath, C G Muthana, chief operating officer, Sachin Karanth, head – Marketing, Sudhakar Prabhu, head – Finance, Jibu Thomas, head - Operations and others were also present.