Airlifted from Goa with heart defect, 1-day-old gets new lease of life

BENGALURU: Just a day old, little Viyaan’s struggle for breath turned worrisome, when his oxygen levels started plummeting. A diagnosis revealed that Viyaan was born with a rare congenital heart condition.
The condition, if untreated, could have severely obstructed blood flow in the left part of the heart, with fatal consequences. The hospital in Goa where the problem was diagnosed did not have the infrastructure to support the infant’s surgery.
The only option was to airlift the child to Bengaluru for immediate medical intervention.“My family and doctors collectively agreed to airlift the baby to Bengaluru for emergency surgery.
After discussing with the medical team at Manipal Hospitals, Old Airport Road, the air transfer of the newborn, in an incubator with a ventilator, was planned from Goa using the Manipal advanced response service ambulance. The airlift team, supported by the International Critical-Care Air Transfer Team (ICATT), efficiently coordinated the transfer from Goa to HAL airport late May 21 evening,” said the father, Vishal Surve, a deputy manager at a private firm.
“After we reached Bengaluru, we immediately shifted my son to the ICU. It took 5 hours to complete the surgery. My wife, who was still recovering from childbirth, stayed in Goa with our 9-year-old daughter,” he added.
Dr Devananda NS, head & consultant of cardiothoracic vascular surgery and heart and lung transplant surgery at Manipal Hospitals, said, “The surgery involved a technique where we cooled the infant’s body temperature to 18 degrees Celsius to significantly reduce metabolic demands, allowing the surgeons a 45-50 minute window to perform the necessary repairs by stopping blood circulation.”
“The baby’s condition, obstructed TAPVC (total anomalous pulmonary venous connection), causes pure blood from both lungs to enter a separate chamber behind the heart instead of draining to the left-side chamber. This blood then drains back to the right side of the heart, mixing with impure blood. Additionally, the draining vein was narrowed, complicating the situation. During surgery, we anatomically corrected this to establish normal blood circulation. Post-surgery, the recovery was smoother than anticipated. By the third day, the ventilator was removed, and the baby was discharged on June 14 after a 25-day stay in the intensive therapy unit (ITU),” he said.
Viyaan, now almost a month old, has recovered well and has returned to Goa, where doctors say he will lead a normal life.
“Early diagnosis and the correct treatment in time go a long way in saving many of these children. With the kind of expertise we have in the country today, both technical and technological advancements make most birth defects easier to treat,” Dr Devananda said.