Four-month-old girl who suffered heart attacks undergoes rare heart operation at Mumbai hospital

When fourmonthold Aditi Gilbile was brought to Mumbai to get treatment for her rare congenital heart disease she had suffered around 1520 minor heart attacks visited more than 10 specialists and her heart capacity to pump blood had fallen to 15Suffering from the rare congenital heart disease medically termed as Anomalous Left Coronary Artery from Pulmonary Artery ALCAPA However 10 days after undergoing a ninehour surgery at Sir HN Reliance Foundation Hospital on February 22 Aditi has been pronounced stable by the doctors and is set to be discharged in a day or twoFourmonthold Aditi GilbileExplaining the rare condition Dr Shivaprakash Chief Surgeon and Head of Paediatric Heart Centre HNRF said that the there was a lesion caused by an abnormal origin of the left coronary artery the artery that carries blue impure blood to the lungs ldquoIn the case of a normal baby pressures in the lungs normalise seven days after birth But in Aditirsquos case the lesion diverted the pink pure blood thereby severely reducing the supply of pure blood to the heart It resulted in the socalled lsquofrequent and silent heart attacksrsquo that damaged the heart musclesrdquo said ShivprakashBorn on October 20 2015 Aditirsquos parents Pramod and Preeti said that she started showing symptoms of the disease on the tenth day after her birth and they immediately took her to their family doctorldquoShe would cry continuously for three hours and sweat profusely We took her to Dr Chandrakant More an MBBS peadiatrician who immediately diagnosed that the baby had irregular blood pumping issuesrdquo said PreetiPreeti who is from asmall village as Barshi in Solapursaid that they decided to take their girl to Pune for treatment ldquoThey said there is only a 5 chance of survival and the cost of the surgery would come up to Rs 6 lakhs After that we came to know about HNRF and brought her hererdquo said PramodDr Shreepal Jain paediatric cardiologist of RF Hospital said such children usually die of heart failure before their first birthday According to him this defect is extremely rare ndash one in 300000 deliveries ndash and hence is often missed by doctors ldquoA simple ECG can diagnose the defect but its usually not picked up early We did a 2D echo to confirm the defect and immediately decided to operate on the baby the next dayrdquo said JainThe surgery lasted nine hours The artery was disconnected from its abnormal origin and was reimplanted at its right place in the aorta The area from where it was harvested was reconstructed with a patch of the tissue covering the babyrsquos heartThe doctors also converted the bypass circulation to left heart 30 minutes so that the weak side of the heart could take the load of the blood circulation gradually Doctors confirmed that Aditirsquos condition stabilised after five daysldquoThe childrsquos heart was really weak after surgery and needed all the medicines including levosimendan used only for very poorly functioning heart Immediate postoperative period is very critical and requires exceptional degree of surveillancerdquo says Dr Amish Vora chief of Paediatric Intensive Care and a core member of the team that takes care of babies following congenital heart surgeriesFor three days postsurgery Aditi had stiff lungs Thereafter she started stabilizing says Dr Vilson chief of Paediatric Cardiac Anaesthesiology The baby initially received support for her heart lungs and kidneys but has gradually been weaned off themThe team of doctors applauded the family members for recognising the importance of the treatment and rushing to the hospital ldquoGenerally in rural areas a girl child fails to get so much attention and people tend to think the crying of the child as minor issues But this family being educated especially the mother being well versed and educated realized the need of the hour and rushed the baby to the hospital Itrsquos a great attemptrdquo said Dr Shivprakash On the other hand when midday asked Preeti whom she would give the credit for the babys successful recovery she said that the doctors did everything ldquoWe always wanted a girl and never made any difference in a girl and a boy The doctors only did everything They are our godrdquo said Preeti