A rare paediatric interventional cardiology procedure was performed recently on a 9-day-old baby from Arunachal Pradesh at Excelcare Hospitals in Guwahati.

The baby was initially stabilized in the Neonatal ICU and provided round the clock paediatric intensive care by Dr Prakritish Bora (Director & HOD – Paediatrics & Neonatology, Excelcare Hospitals), Dr Mridu Plaban Borah, Dr Abid Ahmed and Dr Chandra Shekhar Bhattacharya (Consultant Pediatricians, Excelcare Hospitals).

The emergency life-saving procedure was performed by Dr Dhanjit Nath and Dr Amitava Misra (Consultant Cardiologists, Excelcare Hospitals).

The baby was suffering from a congenital heart defect, a condition known as ‘dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries’ (d-TGA).

The emergency life-saving procedure – BAS (Balloon Atrial Septostomy) was performed under general anaesthesia.

This allowed the baby to survive so that further corrective surgery could be performed later.

This is the first instance of a successful procedure of such a young patient ever performed in the Northeast.

‘Dextro-Transposition of the Great Arteries’ or ‘d-TGA’ is a birth defect of the heart in which the two main arteries carrying blood out of the heart – the main pulmonary artery and the aorta – are switched in position or ‘transposed’.

Thus causing the oxygen-depleted blood returning from the body to go right back to the body instead of going to the lungs to get oxygenated and the oxygenated blood coming from the lungs to return right back to the lungs, instead of going to the body.

The baby is now stable and awaiting further corrective surgery under the care of the Pediatrics Department in the Neonatal ICU at Excelcare Hospitals.

We pray for a speedy recovery and a healthy life ahead!