arteries operation Jupiter Hospital heart surgery heart disease Last week,achieved a remarkable feat by performing openon a five-day-old infant — a fait accompli lauded by other city doctors. The baby was born with a congenitalthat could only be resolved by surgical intervention. His kin first approached a government hospital, which rerouted them to Jupiter Hospital for emergency treatment of the ‘transposition of great arteries’, where this circulation defect was corrected.The condition is deemed to be serious as it caused at birth due to abnormal development of the foetal heart. The aorta is connected to the right ventricle, and the pulmonary artery is connected to the left ventricle — the opposite of a normal heart and anatomy. This defect changes the way blood circulates through the body, leaving a shortage of oxygen in the blood flowing from the heart to the rest of the body. Without an adequate supply of oxygen-rich (red) blood, the body cannot function properly and the patient faces complications or even death if not operated.“The condition requires an emergency surgery called the ‘arterial switch operation’. If left untreated, almost 95 per cent of the children die in the first year of their lives. Our patient weighed around 2 kg and yet, we were able to take on this complex case in the city, which is great,” said Dr Abhijeet Naik, a paediatric cardiac surgeon at Jupiter Hospital.Another paediatric cardiologist, Dr Rahul Saraf, informed that this case was taken under Hruday Sparsh — a Jupiter Hospital initiative — where they are helping as many patients as possible, for their treatment of congenital heart disease. “This is a unique case which reached a successful conclusion with help from Mukul Madhav Foundation, Jupiter Foundation and Have a Heart Foundation,” he said.The reason behind this condition is unknown and surgery is the “only option”, emphasised Dr Shriniwas Kini, consultant paediatric cardiac surgeon, Ruby Hall Clinic. He added, “After such surgeries, there no chances of complications. The only mandate here is that the procedure has to be perfect.”The decision to opt for the surgery indeed worked for the family, which hails from Nepal. The infant’s father, Padam Manharek Bhujel, works as a security guard in the city and his mother is differently abled. Bhujel said, “This is a second life for my baby. We are grateful to all the doctors that made this happen. Initially, we were bewildered after the discovery as we had no money to spend on such a procedure.”The surgery was performed free under the hospital’s initiative by Naik and his team comprising Saraf. It was managed under the guidance of Dr Shrinivas Tambe, chief intensivist.

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