AIIMS doctors in Delhi victoriously performed a risky, rare heart surgery on a fetus’s grape-sized heart in its mother’s womb. The team of doctors performed this surgery in exactly one and a half minutes.
AIIMS Doctors’ Diagnosis
A 28-year-old pregnant woman with three previous miscarriages was admitted to the hospital. The previous miscarriages had already left her devastated. Adding to that, they were shocked to hear that the baby had a bad heart condition while in her womb. After a lot of discussion, the woman was determined to treat the foetus in the womb itself and agreed to allow the doctors to proceed with the treatment.
Procedure
The surgery was carried out at the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre, AIIMS. The surgical procedure was performed by a team of interventional cardiologists along with doctors from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at AIIMS. The procedure that was carried out was termed “balloon dilation,” where the obstructed valve of the heart is dilated using a balloon.
Doctors can diagnose some types of serious heart diseases while the baby is in the mother’s womb itself. Sometimes, they also suggest treating them in the womb. This may improve the baby’s survival after birth and lead to a near-normal development.
Risks
The doctor said that such a procedure can risk the life of the fetus and has to be performed with the maximum amount of care. The senior doctor from the team at the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre at AIIMS said that such a procedure is usually very challenging as it can even risk the life of a fetus. Commonly, all the procedures are done under angiography, but this can’t be done.
Everything has to be done under the guidance of ultrasound. The major heart chamber is going to be punctured, and therefore it has to be done very quickly. If something goes wrong, the baby might even die. It has to be very quick. The needle should shoot, dilate, and come out as soon as possible.
He said that his team of doctors at AIIMS performed this surgery successfully in 90 seconds. In accordance with the report given by the team of doctors at the Department of Cardiology and Cardiac Anaesthesia, along with the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Fetal medicine) , the procedure was successful, and both the fetus and the mother are doing well. The growth of the heart chambers is monitored regularly by a team of doctors to determine the baby’s future management.
Wishes
The Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the team of doctors at AIIMS, New Delhi, for performing a successful rare and risky procedure on the grape-sized heart of a foetus in one and a half seconds. He also sent his prayers for the well-being of the baby and the mother.
