Open heart surgery on 6-month-old baby

PATNA: Anand, a six-month-old baby weighing four kgs, suffering from complex congenital heart defect with single pumping chamber, underwent a successful open heart surgery here on May 14. Son of a young couple of Akuni village in Bhojpur district, Santosh Kumar Sah and Putul Gupta, the baby was operated by the city’s well-known cardiac surgeon Dr Ajit Pradhan and his team at a private clinic in Kankarbagh.
According to Dr Pradhan “normally there are four chambers in the heart, but this child had only three, with one ventricle. Surgery was urgent as the blood going to lungs was being compromised and this baby had turned extremely dusky and blue.”
“The baby is now doing extremely well, is cheerful and having his milk,” said Pradhan. He will need the final stage correction after three years and his parents have applied for financial assistance from Bihar government.
Dr Pradhan was assisted by a team consisting of Dr Dhananjay Kumar Suman, Dr Shashank Shekhar, Dr B B Bharati, Dr Amitabh Verma, Pradeep Jha, Dr S C Bhawanani and others.