Heart bypass surgery done on 20-month-old

One year-and-eight-month-old Stavan Shah underwent coronary heart bypass surgery at Batra Hospital, Delhi, on Monday, reports Rhythma Kaul.

One year-and-eight-month-old Stavan Shah underwent coronary heart bypass surgery at Batra Hospital, Delhi, on Monday.

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He is one of the youngest children ever operated upon for Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) world over.

Coronary artery disease— blockage of arteries, is usually a lifestyle disorder, hence, not usually seen in children.

In baby Shah’s case, he was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease when he was two months old. Kawasaki disease, also known as lymph node disease, affects many organs, but the most serious effect is on the heart, where it causes inflammation of the blood vessels.

“"Two of the arteries of his heart were completely and one partially blocked because of the clotted blood and all three arteries had aneurysm or severe inflammation,” said Dr Anil Bhan, chief cardiac surgeon at Batra Hospital, who headed the team that performed the high-risk surgery.

If not treated on time, the baby would have suffered a severe heart attack. “Either the blood flow would have stopped due to the blockage or vessels would have ruptured due to the inflammation,” said Dr Bhan.

“We had to use the magnification process to avoid any error,” said Dr Bhan. The grafts were taken from Shah’s chest and left arm.

Doctors claim the critical phase is over, though he needs to stay in the hospital for a week more, and now the baby needs to be kept under observation to see if the grafts work well.