Indore: A team of doctors of a private hospital in the city helped a 2-day-old newborn weighing 2 kg survive a rare cardiac disease.
Apollo Rajshree hospital, where the surgery was performed, claimed that it was the first of its kind surgery performed in Central India. An adult heart normally beats for 65-80 times every minute. In children, this is much faster and depending on their age it may vary from 120-160 minutes.
The hospital saved newborn baby girl with a heart rate of just 50 beats per minute. Without treatment, it was impossible for the newborn to survive. The child was suffering from congenital heart block with a heart rate of less than 50 beats per minute. The condition was timely diagnosed by pediatric cardiologist Dr Sanjukta Bhargava when the baby was admitted in a private hospital under Dr Zafar Khan.
Dr Sanjukta diagnosed the problem and referred her to Apollo Rajshree Hospital where a permanent pacemaker was implanted by a team of doctors led by Dr Nishit Bhargava. He said that it was probably first such surgery in Central India. He said congenital heart block is a rare disorder with very low survival rate. “It occurs mostly because of maternal antibodies. These antibodies damage child's cardiomyocytes and conduction tissue,” he added.
According to Dr Bhargava, the biggest challenge for surgery was to convince parents for surgical repair in a child who is just 2 kg in weight. “The other challenge was the availability of pacemaker. We are very happy the team was able to overcome the challenges and patient is healthy now,” he added.
