New Delhi: A team of doctors from AIIMS successfully performed a rare procedure on a grape-sized baby's heart and reshaped it inside a mother's womb in 90 seconds.
Union health minister Mansukh Mandaviya took to Twitter to congratulate the doctors at AIIMS for successfully performing such a complex surgery.
“I congratulate the team of doctors of @AIIMS_NewDelhi for performing successful rare procedure on grape size heart of a fetus in 90 seconds. My prayers for the well-being of the baby and the mother,” Mandaviya tweeted.
A 28-year-old pregnant woman, who had suffered three miscarriages, was crestfallen when she was informed about the heart condition of her unborn baby, doctors at the hospital said, according to PTI.
However, the woman was determined to continue with the pregnancy and agreed to allow the doctors to carry out the complex surgery on the foetus' heart. "A team of interventional cardiologists along with doctors from the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at AIIMS performed the procedure termed balloon dilation in the obstructed valve of the heart. Under the procedure which was performed under the guidance of ultrasound, a needle was inserted in the heart of the foetus and then using a balloon catheter, the obstructed valve was unclogged," a senior doctor said.
"The whole procedure had to be done very swiftly. It was very challenging. We managed to do it in around one-and-half minutes," the doctor said.
"With this reshaping procedure, hopefully the foetus' heart will develop better. Both the foetus and the mother are stable and are being monitored closely," the doctor stated.
"Some types of serious heart diseases can be diagnosed while the baby is in the mother's womb. Sometimes, treating them in the womb may improve the outlook for the baby after birth and lead to near normal development," ANI quoted a team of doctors from the Department of Cardiology & Cardiac Anesthesia, along with the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology (Fetal medicine) as saying.
(With agency inputs)