Doctors implant pacemaker into a 15-hr-old baby

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• 2007-08-19 08:08:33
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MUMBAI — Doctors here successfully carried out a surgery to fit a pacemaker on a 15-hour-old baby, born with a slow heartbeat.

The baby, not yet been named, was diagnosed with a intrauterine congential heart block and slow heartrate of 45 as compared to normal 120 beats per minute about two months before his birth when his mother went for an ultrasound check.

It is a rare case as it occurs one in 20,000 cases, Wockhardt hospital cardiac surgeons who performed the surgery said.

The parents, Narendra and Sangeeta Mishra, were told about this and decided not to terminate the baby as Sangeetha conceived this baby after 12 years of marriage.

The cardiac team coordinated with the hospital at Airoli in Navi Mumbai where Sangeetha delivered the child and was brought to suburban Wockhardt hospital in Mulund where the surgery was performed under full anaesthesia.

Dr Suresh Joshi led the team consisting of Dr Swati Kharekhar and Dr Sachin Patil. A hole in the baby's heart was also closed during the surgery on August 13.

The baby is doing fine, Patil said, adding, he will be kept in ICU for two or three more days and fed on artificial milk.

The pacemaker had to be very small and was brought especially from a company in Hyderabad, Patil told PTI.

"Since it is small in size, the battery can last only for five years and has to be replaced after that," he added.