Rare heart surgery saves mother, new-born baby

NEW DELHI: Doctors at a city hospital saved two lives after successfully treating a 30-year-old woman having advanced stage pregnancy and life threatening heart condition which posed a serious threat to mother and unborn child.

According to doctors, at a time Sunanda Sharma (name changed) and her baby in the womb were struggling for survival and any delay could be fatal.

She was transferred to Aakash Healthcare in the national capital from Rewari. By the time she reached the Emergency room, her oxygen level went very low, and she was immediately put on ventilation to save her life as well as of the baby in her womb. Her quick medical history revealed her previous Heart Valve Replacement surgery and the doctors also discovered the fact that she stopped taking her prescribed blood thinners.

Two teams — led by Cardiac Anaesthetist Dr Gaurav and Gynaecologist by Dr Sumana Banerjee and Dr Richa Gupta — opted for emergency caesarean section and the baby was successfully delivered. According to Dr Gaurav Jain, tough it was a successful delivery but everyone was shocked to see the baby not crying and by this time, the patient’s heart stopped working and next couple of days were extremely critical at state-of-the-art neonatal intensive care unit of Aakash Healthcare, before the baby finally showed any sign of life.

Meanwhile, after 5-6 hours of the delivery, condition of the mother deteriorated with severe lack of oxygen in the body and additional complications. She had little chance of survival, according to specialists.  A highly experienced cardiac team of Dr Amrish Kumar and others examined Sunanda who was in an extremely serious condition and they zeroed down on a second Heart Mitral Valve Replacement surgery to correct her stuck heart valve.