Heart surgery for 90 day old child

A 90 day old Sri Lankan male child underwent Doble Switch Operation & VSD closure (Major Open Heart Surgery) at GKNM Hospital, Coimbatore. Soon after birth, it faced problems like breathing difficulties, poor feeding, excessive sweating, poor weight gain, and bluish discoloration.

The child was diagnosed with one of the major birth-related heart problems. In Sri Lanka, all the hospitals deferred surgery in view of the lack of expertise and high risk associated with surgery. So, parents consulted doctors in Delhi, Chennai, and Bangalore. All of them have denied surgery in view of the high risk.

GKNM Hospital

Finally, the parents approached the GKNM hospital in Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. It decided to take the child for surgery after explaining the risk. Following admission, it performed a 3D reconstruction of the heart using a CT scan to better understand its complexity.  After getting adequate information, we have taken the child up for a very complex double switch operation and VSD closure.  The surgery lasted for about 12 hours. The child's chest was left open for 48 hours and had delayed chest closure.

The child recovered quickly after that and was discharged on the 14th day.The successful surgery was performed by the GKNM Hospital, surgical team headed by Dr.R. Vijayakumar, Consultant Paediatric cardiac surgeon along with extensive support from Dr. Kaushik, Paediatric Cardiac Anaesthetist and team, Dr. Vinodh, Paediatric Cardiac Intensivist and team, Perfusionist Mrs. Sumathy and team,  Nursing team in OT, ICU & Wards and Respiratory therapist for their extensive support.  Special Thanks to Dr. M. Kalyana Sundaram, Paediatric Cardiologist and Dr.Mani Ram, Paediatric Cardiologist from Thanjavur for helping in the surgery.