Chennai hospital creates history by fitting heart pumps in 3-year-old Russian boy

In a complex seven-hour operation, a three-year-old Russian boy was successfully operated upon and two artificial heart pumps known as Berlin Heart were implanted. The boy had earlier suffered two cardiac arrests where the heart stopped beating and had to be resuscitated with manual compressions.

Chennai:MGM Healthcare here has performed a complex artificial heart implant procedure for the first time in South East Asia, Middle East and Africa. It involved two artificial heart pumps known as ‘Berlin Heart’ to support both the right and left side of the heart of a 3-year old Russian boy, weighing 10 kg.

The procedure was performed on May 25 by a team led by Dr KR Balakrishnan, Chairman & Director of Cardiac Sciences and Director of the Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support Program at MGM Healthcare.

Other members of the team that performed the procedure, included Dr Suresh Rao KG, Co-Director - Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant & Mechanical Circulatory Support and HOD – Cardiac Anaesthesia, and cardiac surgeons Dr V Srinath and Dr S Ganapathy, Senior Consultants, MGM Healthcare.

The team has performed the largest number of mechanical circulatory device implantation for heart failure management in India.

The first of its kind, Berlin Heart Implantation was performed over a 7-hour long marathon surgery in collaboration with engineering support teams from UK and Germany guided by state-of-the-art virtual technology due to travel restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 crisis.

Baby Lev Fedorenko suffered from a heart condition called restrictive cardiomyopathy wherein the walls of the lower chambers of the heart called the ventricles, are too rigid to expand and receive any blood.

The parents of the baby flew him down to Chennai to consult with Dr KR Balakrishnan and sought possible solutions for their child’s medical condition.

He was initially managed with medications for around two months, but unfortunately, his condition started worsening. He subsequently became critically unwell and required hospitalization at MGM Healthcare.

His health continued to deteriorate and he had two episodes of cardiac arrest, where the heart stopped beating. He then had to be resuscitated with manual compressions for several minutes.

The only option possible for such a small child was an artificial heart pump and since both the right and left sides of his heart were affected, he needed two heart pumps. Small pumps for such a small child known as Pediatric Bi-ventricular pump are made only in Germany by a company called “Berlin Heart”.

Implantation of the "Berlin Heart" in a little child was always going to be a mammoth task.

It was a challenge to fit the cannula needed for the pump inside the small chest cavity of this child.

The surgery was also complicated by the fact that it was performed amidst a period of complete lockdown in the city of Chennai.

Additionally, managing anaesthesia and surgery in such a small child wearing the mandatory Personal Protective Equipment warranted the best of clinical expertise.

Experts from multiple backgrounds and countries joined via teleconference to support the team in Chennai, notwithstanding the physical barriers imposed by COVID-19.

This complex surgical bi ventricular heart implantation is the first such implant in South Asia, South East Asia and among the few in the whole of Asia stretching from the Middle East to the Far East.

This is also the first recorded time in the world, that this complex procedure has been done with complete virtual support.

Commenting on the treatment, Dr KR Balakrishnan said, "This was a huge challenge, given the prevailing circumstances. Berlin Heart will support the circulation of this child till the heart recovers or he gets a transplant. Post implant, Lev Fedorenko was kept under observation for a few weeks. The child has recovered remarkably well and has gained weight in a very short time and has been discharged from the ICU. He is doing absolutely fine now."

Speaking on Berlin Heart procedure Dr Suresh Rao said, “Newborns with heart failure or children suffering from severe heart insufficiency don’t really have much of a choice."

A heart transplant most of the time is the only survival possibility. The problem the doctors are facing is that there is hardly a chance to keep their patient’s condition stable until a heart transplant becomes possible.

The Berlin Heart VAD consists of a plastic pump or chamber which is outside of the body.

It has a blood-filled side and an air-filled side, separated by a flexible membrane. The blood-filled side of the pump is connected directly to the child’s own heart and main artery by means of two tubes or ‘cannulae’.

The air-filled side of the pump is connected via a long plastic tube or ‘driveline’ to a driving unit.

The driving unit of a Berlin Heart drives air into and out of the heart pump(s). As air is pulled out of the pump, the membrane separating the two sides of the pump is drawn back, pulling blood into the pump from the main pumping chamber of the child’s own heart.

Berlin Heart GmbH is the only company worldwide which develops, manufactures and distributes both implantable ventricular assist devices for patients with heart diseases.

The systems INCOR®, EXCOR® Adult and EXCOR® Pediatric support short- to long-term pumping function of the heart and thus present a life-saving therapy possibility for the patient.

MGM Healthcare is the only hospital in South East Asia, Middle East & Africa to use this device to perform lifesaving surgery.

Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami praised the medical and hospital for taking up the challenging case and showcasing the state's capabilities in healthcare to the world.

He congratulated the medical team and the hospital on its achievement. He said the state was setting an example in the provision of healthcare.