15-Day-Old Baby Survives Congenital Heart Disease Surgery In Mumbai

A 15-day-old baby named Dianna from Mauritius, diagnosed with a severe congenital heart disease, successfully underwent a complex heart procedure at Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai.

Baby Dianna was born on 28 July, 2021 in Mauritius with a cyanosis (bluish or grey-ish colour of the skin, nails, lips or around the eyes) and was diagnosed with valvular pulmonary atresia, a defect of the heart found at birth where the valve that controls blood flow from the heart to the lungs doesn't open at all. She was surviving on the patent ductus arteriosus & was being taken care of in a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU).

With the help of the government and a local doctor, she was brought to Mumbai on 12 August, 2021. Dianna was immediately stabilized and, in less than 24 hours, was taken to a catheterization lab for a cardiac procedure. Before starting the procedure, Baby Dianna developed a severe cardiac arrest, which needed immediate shock treatment (4 to 6 shocks were delivered), along with multiple emergency cardiac medicines.

In the last 16 months, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai has treated over 60 children from Mauritius.

The lead doctor of this case, Dr Bhushan Chavan, Consultant, Interventional Paediatric Cardiology at Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai, explains, "As her condition deteriorated, she was referred for further clinical management by a flight to Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, by the Mauritius government. The condition of Baby Dianna was grim, with no response to these treatments, so a temporary pacemaker was inserted as a last resort and it kept the heart beating, at the rate of 150/min. CPR was still continued and the procedure was abandoned."

Post the shock treatment, in the next couple of minutes, Dianna's heart regained its own rhythm and as a result, the pacemaker was removed. Baby Dianna was shifted to NICU for stabilization. In the next 10 days, the baby overcame all the neonatal problems (including acute kidney failure) and successfully extubated. She was also coming back to normal neurological functioning, as per a paediatric neurologist, which was another miracle, given the long duration of CPR and cardiac arrest she experienced.

Once Dianna stabilised, Dr Chavan went ahead with the interventional procedure, where perforation and a balloon pulmonary valvotomy (which is the widening of a narrowed pulmonary valve by using a balloon catheter inside the valve) was performed to open up the defective pulmonary valve that had caused the cardiac arrest in the first place.

Santosh Marathe, COO & Unit Head, Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai, said, "Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most common congenital disorder in newborns and affects around 8 in every 1000 babies. The successful treatment of Baby Dianna is a proud moment for our institution. Our team of world class experts have made sure Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai is recognised as one of the most advanced centres in Western India for paediatric cardiac care. The rising number of heart diseases in India has become a major concern now, and with the growing pandemic, there is even bigger threat to people who are at risk of cardiovascular diseases."

He further added, "Till date Apollo Hospitals Navi Mumbai have treated over 350 paediatric children and are equipped with state of the art NICU and PICU facilities, backed by good intensive care, paediatric cardiologists and paediatric heart surgery team."

The case highlights how complex a critical congenital heart problem can be if not treated on time. The excellence and the dedication of the team of doctors at Apollo Hospitals is a perfect example to this, which gave a new lease of life for the baby and the entire family.