welldone doc: AIIMS docs successfully operate on 'miracle baby'

NEW DELHI: Doctors at AIIMS successfully operated on the 10-day-old miracle baby, who was born with his heart protruding through his chest, on
Thursday. In this path-breaking surgery, the doctors have created a new world record by doing the surgery without suspending his body functions.

"We decided to do the surgery without suspending his body functions. As there was no space in his body to accommodate the heart, we created a window between the chest and abdomen to place the heart. Then gradually rotated the heart and put it back in the newly created space," said Dr AK Bisoi, additional cardiothoracic surgeon, AIIMS, who led the team.

The baby has been shifted to Cardiac Care Unit and doctors say that every hour now is critical for the baby. "We have to closely monitor the baby. Every hour is crucial. We have to see how he responds to the surgery. Every stage was a challenge and the fact that he has survived for 10 days itself is an achievement," said Dr Bisoi.

But the biggest achievement for the doctors is that they could operate upon him on while his heart was beating. Initially, the doctors had planned that the baby will be put on a heart-and-lung machine and his body temperature would be lowered to 18 degree Celsius thereby suspending his body functions for a period of 30 minutes.

The surgery started at 9 am on Thursday and was completed in three-and-half-hours.

In India, this 10-day-old is the first baby to have survived this rare medical condition -- Ectopia Cordis -- for such a long period and to successfully survive the complicated surgery.

The baby was born with a rare medical condition called Ectopia Cordis. Worldwide, 230 such cases have been reported and only three people have survived this condition.