Rare heart surgery saves a 3-year-old

Manipal Heart Foundation conducts rare RSOV surgery on a child

In a pioneering effort, the paediatric cardiac surgery team at Manipal Heart Foundation have treated three-year-old Jyothi from Tumkur who was suffering from Acute Rupture of Sinus of Valsalva (RSOV). The successful procedure was performed by a team led by Dr Joseph Xavier, Consultant and Head of Department of Cardiac Surgery, Manipal Heart Foundation.

Jyothi was referred by her paediatrician for acute breathlessness of three weeks, to Dr Anand Shenoy, Consultant Cardiologist, Manipal Heart Foundation, when he visited Manipal Tumkur Hospital. A 2D echo cardiogram was conducted by Dr Anand and he diagnosed her to be suffering from acute rupture sinus of valsalva (cardiac emergency). The baby was immediately shifted to Manipal Group's referral hospital in Bangalore.

RSOV is a rare condition where there is a weakness of cusp of the aorta - largest artery in body carrying pure blood from heart to body - and it ruptures into the other chambers of the heart called atrium. Patients develop heart failure and increased pressure in the lungs. This condition, in acute form, is usually seen in young adults and it was a rare case where a baby had this problem.

Dr Xavier informed, "In such conditions, emergency surgery or device closure at the earliest is the best option. But, for Jyothi, device closure was not possible because of her age and unusually large size of defect. We had to undertake the baby for emergency open heart surgery done as a life-saving measure."

The parents of the baby come from a poor social economic status and the hospital's Medical Social Works team raised funds for the surgery. Dr Nagendra Swamy, Group Medical Director, Manipal Health Systems said, "Manipal Heart Foundation is amongst the largest ultra modern cardiac care centres in Asia. It comprises four dedicated operation theatres with a potential to perform over 10 heart surgeries daily. It was the first in South India to deploy two ultra-modern digital catheterisation labs, and has potential to conduct 30 cardiac procedures daily."

At a remarkably high success rate of 98 per cent, much better than the international average, the Manipal Heart Foundation has conducted over 8,500 heart surgeries and over 17,000 procedures in invasive cardiology. This includes many rare surgeries and procedures, many firsts and hundreds of complex congenital problems and re-do surgeries.