Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, July 20: Late surgical interventions in children with congenital heart disease can result into several morbidities and mortality
This was stated by Dr Muthu Jothi, Senior Consultant, Pediatric Cardiothoracic Surgery, Interventional Cardiology at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. He said delaying the procedures only puts the patient’s life at a greater risk, where surgical interventions at a later stage might not be successful.
“As the world remains engulfed with the fear of Corona virus pandemic, other health conditions that need immediate medical attention have taken a toll. People are delaying their surgeries owing to the fear of visiting a hospital and contracting the infection,” he said.
He said congenital heart diseases can be life-threatening for children especially when the treatment is delayed. If not detected and simultaneously treated at birth, the child develops symptoms like shortness of breath, heart murmurs, recurrent respiratory and lung infections. This not only impacts the quality of life of the child but also affects the child development and limits life expectancy, he added.
“In a recent turn of events, a three-day old infant born in UP was referred to Indraprastha Apollo in Delhi, post developing breathing trouble right after birth. Understanding the urgency and criticality of the situation Apollo Hospitals arranged for the baby’s travel to Delhi immediately. The child travelled for 17 hours on ventilator in an ambulance and was successfully operated at Apollo Hospitals. Post-surgery within 10 days of neonatal intensive care the baby showed immense improvement and was discharged,” Dr Muthu said.
Dr Muthu said, “This case was specifically challenging as we had lost a lot of time in getting the baby here and beginning his treatment. The surgery was a high-risk procedure owing to the infant’s low birth weight (1.5 kg). This was the lowest weighing child at 1.5 kg, to have ever gone through such a complex cardiac procedure at this hospital. The timely treatment of the kid saved him/her from losing his/her life”.
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