New Delhi: It took a two and a half hour long successful operation at AIIMS to put the heart back in the 10-day-old baby's body, which was sticking outside his chest.
So far the doctors say the operation is successful, but the baby is being kept under observation for 48 hours -- till Saturday. The operation began at 10 am and got over around 12 noon.
The operation was conducted by a team of eight doctors, headed by Dr AK Bisoi. The baby was born in Muzaffarpur in Bihar to very poor parents.
This was the fifth such surgery in a row happening at the institute.
Although previous attempts to save babies with such complications have largely proved futile, the doctors left no stone unturned to save the life of the baby who was admitted in the hospital on August 28.
The baby was brought to the hospital by his parents, wrapped in a towel with his heart protruding from the chest.
This condition, otherwise known as Ectopia cordis, is a birth defect wherein the heart is abnormally located. It protrudes outside the chest through a split sternum. It occurs in five to nine cases per million births and the mortality rate is very high.
The department of paediatric surgery, AIIMS has already conducted four such surgeries in the past of which only one was successful.
(With PTI inputs)