Within six hours of birth, a baby girl underwent surgery with blockage in one of the heart valves for valve repair at a city private hospital in Delhi.
Though it is a very familiar surgery for older children, it was a challenge for the doctors at Sri Ganga Ram Hospital to operate on an infant since her organs and tissues were very delicate.
According to Dr Neeraj Aggarwal, paediatric cardiology, valve repair is done by inserting a thin balloon tipped tube, through the vessels at the neck and allowed through a blood vessel to the defective valve in the heart. The balloon is then inflated to help free the blockage.
The doctor further said that such cases need early intercession as deferring it may often result in death of several children. The family was given sufficient time to decide and consider the right centre for valve repair, since the baby's condition had been already diagnosed via foetal echocardiography in the fifth month of pregnancy.