New Delhi: Doctors at AIIMS-Delhi have successfully opened a closed valve in the grape-sized heart of a fetus in a mother's womb. The balloon dilation of the heart was done under ultrasound guidance. Both the fetus and the mother are safe, doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) said. The 28-year-old pregnant had suffered three miscarriages earlier and wanted to save this pregnancy this time.
The doctors from the departments of cardiology, and cardiac anaesthesia along with the obstetrics and gynaecology completed the procedure. In a tweet, Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya congratulated the doctors.
In fact, a 28-year-old pregnant patient had had three miscarriages earlier. She was admitted to AIIMS following health complications. After the examination, the doctors told the parents about the condition of the closed valve of the child's heart. Along with this, the entire process to be followed to open the valve was explained.
Since the couple wanted to save the pregnancy, they gave permission to the doctors for the procedure. After this, this process was completed at the Cardiothoracic Sciences Center of AIIMS. A team of interventional cardiologists and fetal medicine experts were also involved in completing this. Now the team of doctors is monitoring the growth of the fetus. According to doctors, some types of heart diseases can be diagnosed when the child is in the mother's womb.
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A needle was inserted through the mother's abdomen into the child's heart, doctors said. Then using a balloon catheter, the obstructed valve is opened to improve blood flow. Now it is expected that the heart of the child will develop normally. A senior doctor who performed the surgery said that such a procedure could put the life of the fetus at risk and it was done very carefully. The doctor said that the time taken for the whole process was only 90 seconds.
