Media Release

Mangaluru, Mar 21: In a rare feat, seven children who had holes in their hearts have got a new lease of life, thanks to the doctors of the city's AJ Hospital.

Seven children were diagnosed to have holes in the heart called moderate Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD), said Dr Prem Alva, consultant pediatric cardiologist at AJ Hospital. The children had recurrent respiratory infections, breathing difficulty while playing and unable to do their normal activities like other children.

An echocardiogram was done at AJ Hospital to detect the defects and it was also seen that the left of the heart was abnormally enlarged with increased heart pressures in some children. This is a condition where the pure and impure blood is mixing in the heart. Hence it was decided to close these holes in the heart without open heart surgery by a technique called 'device closure of VSD' using the antegrade route in the heart. Meticulous planning was done regarding the size of the defect and choosing the accurate size of the device required to close the defect.

A team headed by Dr Prem Alva with anaesthesists Dr GururajTantry and Dr Trevor Sequeira did the procedures. The procedure went on smoothly in all the 7 children and they were discharged in a stable condition within three days. They are now on follow up and doing well.

This is the first time VSDs were closed by antegrade technique using ADO 1 devices in Mangaluru. "AJ Hospital being the only exclusive paediatric cardiac centre in Mangaluru, we hope to continue the quality of work," said Dr Prem Alva.

All these patients were treated free under various schemes.

Dr Prem Alva can be contacted on 9611125844.