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Mumbai’s miracle baby: Hole in heart, no pulse for 45 minutes, yet child survives
mumbai
Updated: Apr 06, 2017 15:27 IST
Three-month-old baby Aaradhya Wagh was born with a hole in his heart.(HT Photo)
A three-month-old baby in
Mumbai born with a hole in his heart now has a miracle second lease of
life after his heart stopped beating for 45 minutes last week.
Doctors
from Mumbai’s Wadia Hospital managed to revive the child – Dhule-based
Aaradhya Wagh -- by connecting the heart to an artificial mechanical
circulatory support system that stabilised the organ. Aaradhya is now
fit and doctors say he can lead a normal life.
The child had lost
his heartbeat a day after undergoing a surgery to repair heart
impairments. As the heart’s work was taken over by the machine, the
organ started beating. Over a period of time with the help of a series
of life saving procedures, the heart started responding and became fully
functional.
“This entire procedure took nearly 26 hours for the
heart to start beating normally, it was a great relief for the team,”
added Dr Biswa Panda, chief paediatric cardiac surgeon.
Aaradhya
hails from an underprivileged family whose skin started going blue soon
after birth. Doctors say such babies, born with limited capacity of the
heart to pump fresh blood in the body, are popularly known as ‘blue
babies,’ due to low levels of oxygen in the blood.
“Aaradhya’s
heart had a hole and the blood outlet of the heart was too small.
Doctors told us that it made the heart unable to pump enough blood and
provide oxygen to his body, the chances of his survival were, as told to
us, minimal in Dhule and that’s why we came to Mumbai with high hopes,”
said Ravindra Wagh, father of the child.
Panda said Aaradhya’s
heart problem was diagnosed in the womb. “There are very few mothers who
decide to go ahead and give birth to a child with such heart problems.
After delivery, the baby became critical as the level of oxygen in its
blood was only 50-60%. A chest infection made the scenario worse,” said
Dr Panda.
Aaradhya’s blood pressure dropped and the heart stopped functioning.
(HT Photo)
A lifesaving BT shunt surgery – which is an
emergency surgery to increase oxygen supply to the body -- was performed
last week. But 24 hours after the procedure, Aaradhya’s blood pressure
dropped and the heart stopped functioning. This was when the medical
team at Wadia hospital sprang into action.
“We tried artificially
resuscitating the heart for 45 minutes despite which the heart was
non-functional. Throughout that period, I was slowly massaging the heart
to pump enough blood artificially in order to keep blood flowing to the
other parts of its body,” added Panda.
In the next two days,
Aaradhya’s body started functioning normally, could pass urine as usual
and heartbeat was normal. Feeding started and the baby was out of the
ventilator in a few days. The hospital didn’t charge the parents
considering their financial situation.
“We will always be grateful
to the hospital and especially Dr Panda who gave our son a new lease of
life. We are very simple people from a remote village and struggle to
make ends meet. Thanks to the support and concern from the medical staff
at the hospital who considered our son like their own and gave the best
treatment,” said Ravindra.
Minnie Bodhanwala, chief of Wadia
hospital, said the institution was glad to have helped Aaradhya. “With
the help of the various modern equipment and well-qualified team, we are
able to provide such facilities for Children