Mumbai child has heart on the right side, a hole in it and a narrow artery, undergoes surgery

MUMBAI CITY NEWS: Sanket, who is from Aurangabad, is a farmer’s son and was diagnosed with a complex heart defect

Six-year-old Sanket More, whose heart chambers and arteries are on the right side in his chest instead of the left, got a second shot at life after he underwent a complex surgery last week in a Charni Road-situated hospital. The surgery was performed to plug a hole in the organ and a narrow pulmonary artery. The surgical team also put an artificial tube from the left chamber of the heart to carry the blood to lungs – an option in which a sub-optimal pump is assigned to pump blood

Sanket More with his parents at HN Reliance Hospital. (HT)

Sanket, who is from Aurangabad, is a farmer’s son and was diagnosed with a complex heart defect, in which all the heart chambers and arteries had interchanged, he had a hole in the heart and a narrow pulmonary artery resulting in supply of impure blood to the lungs. Doctors from HN Reliance Hospital, who performed the surgery, said Sanket’s heart was located in the right chamber of chest instead of the left and to make matters worse, because of the interposition of arteries,the common correction surgery couldn’t be done due to minimal access to the area.

After much deliberation, the team comprising a cardiologist, cardiac surgeon, anaesthetist and an intensivist decided to undertake the complex repair. Sanket was taken off the ventilator the day after the surgery and was able to consume food orally.

“Very few hospitals in the country have the kind of surgical expertise and infrastructure required to perform such a complex surgery on a kid. By undertaking this route, we have provided Sanket with a near normal heart and a superior quality of life,” he said.