SSKM performs critical rare heart surgery for free

Kolkata: Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee's brain child - Sishu Sathi scheme has once again given a fresh lease of life to a 15-year-old boy who was taken to SSKM Hospital with rare multiple congenital defects in his heart.

The surgery was performed at the Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery (CTVS) department of SSKM Hospital for free of cost. According to a rough estimate, if the surgery was performed in any private hospital of the city, the treatment would cost the patient's family around Rs 6-7 lakh.

The patient used to suffer from shortness of breath, palpitation, chest pain, swelling of legs and frequent chest infection. Hence, his family consulted a local doctor.

The patient's family members were advised to take him to SSKM Hospital. If the treatment was delayed, it could have led to irreversible heart failure, doctors said.

Doctors at SSKM Hospital performed a rare surgery on the patient, Shoab Akhtar Mondal (15) who was admitted to the hospital a few days ago from Nadia's Tehatta with rare and complex congenital defects in his heart.

Doctors at the CTVS department performed an ECG, Echocardiogram and other necessary tests. Echocardiogram confirmed that the patient had ventricular septal defect (VSD) and congenital severe mitral valve stenosis with severe pulmonary artery hypertension. Patent ductus arterioses (PDA) was also found in the patient during the surgery that lasted for nearly six hours. According to the doctors, a hole was found on the septum that lied between two ventricles which is known as VSD in the medical terminology. The hole on the septum was repaired with a Dacron patch while the mitral valve has been replaced with an artificial one. A team of doctors led by Dr Santanu Dutta and Dr Shilpa Basu Roy performed the surgery.

Doctors said in usual case a patient is detected with either PDA or VSD. The co-existence of both the defects is very rare. This can be an example of the rarest of the rare as claimed by the doctors due to an additional defect in mitral valve. During the operation, the patient was kept under the support of heart lung machine for more than two hours. VSD and PDA were repaired while the mitral valve that had congenital defects was replaced successfully.

A member doctor of the team said the PDA was detected in the patient while the open heart surgery was going on. There is a connection between pulmonary artery and Aorta in the heart which gets closed automatically within a period of two weeks or maximum two months in some cases since the birth. If it does not get closed spontaneously, it requires a surgical intervention to close the channel connecting the pulmonary artery and aorta.

Doctors who carried out the surgery said the co-existence of three congenital heart defects in a patient is not only rare but has not been documented in the medical journal.

The patient was discharged on Thursday from the hospital as he is doing fine and now he will be able to lead a normal life. Thousands of patients from the rural areas – especially those belonging to the BPL category – have benefitted immensely through the Sishu Sathi scheme.

All government hospitals and some other private hospitals have been performing heart surgeries under the scheme on a regular basis following the instruction of the Chief Minister.