Manipal: Kasturba Hospital, Manipal Cardiac Surgeon, Dr Arvind Bishnoi and his team performed an open heart surgery on a four-day old newborn to correct a congenital defect of transposition of great arteries at the hospital here recently. “The child is doing well,” Dr Bishnoi said.

During a regular check-up during pregnancy, some deformities were detected by Dr Muralidhar V Pai head of Department of OBG. Subsequently on cardiac evaluation, the foetus was diagnosed with transposition of the great arteries.

The consultants at Kasturba Hospital counselled for surgical treatment immediately on birth. The parents were optimistic and mother delivered her first baby - a male child. The baby was immediately shifted in Neonatal ICU, where Dr Leslie Lewis and his team took care of the baby. They observed that as oxygen in the blood was low, the baby was turning blue. Treatment began immediately and the baby was fit for surgery. The CTVS surgery team decided to go ahead with surgery on the fourth day after birth of the baby.

Dr Arvind Bishnoi and his team in a surgery that lasted three and half hours corrected the transposition of great arteries. Soon after the surgery, the baby’s skin colour turned pink, indicating that the operation was successful. Even the ventilator support was removed after a day. Child started breathing normally. And the baby was ready to be in mother’s lap. She breastfed the child for the first time on the ninth day and after observation, the parents took him to home on the 12th day.

Dr Arvind Bishnoi said, “It was a rewarding experience to see the smile on the face of the parents after the child became normal following the successful surgery. The baby can now live a normal life.”

Dr Avinash Shetty, medical superintendent of Kasturba Hospital while congratulating the team said, “Dr Bishnoi is passionate about treating children, especially neonates, with heart diseases. Earlier parents of the sick babies had to risk the travel to Bengaluru or metros along with full-fledged medical team and life support equipment to support the baby. After his joining the cardiac surgery department, the hospital has been providing neonatal cardiac surgical care,"