AN EIGHT-YEAR-OLD GIRL GETS A NEW LEASE OF LIFE AT KAUVERY HEART CITY HOSPITAL

Trichy , 16^th January 2025 :  An 8-year-old girl hailing from Perambalur District had undergone evaluation for recurrent respiratory infections and poor weight gain.  Initially, the paediatrician who examined her had identified a heart murmur.  For the unversed, a heart murmur is an unusual sound in the heartbeat that can sound like whooshing, swishing, rasping or humming.  The paediatrician suspected a heart disease, and she was referred to a Chennai-based hospital.  A cardiac MRI was obtained there, and the patient’s heart disease was identified.  However, no treatment plan was finalised. 

It was in this scenario, the girl’s family approached Kauvery Heartcity Hospital, Trichy seeking a second opinion.   The family, however, could not provide details of the previous medical evaluations or records. Paediatric cardiologist Dr.Maniram Krishna of Kauvery Heartcity diagnosed the condition as a Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD). VSD, in fact, is a hole between the two lower chambers of the heart, and it is a congenital defect.   The defect is closed using a plug, which in the medical parleys is known as an occluder device. However, the doctors were not entirely sure if this was the right approach as the child had some unusual features. They included an outpouching of the left lower chamber of the heart called a diverticulum.  The hole was present inside this outpouching. This posed two relevant questions: Is the wall of the outpouching good enough to hold the plug? What is the best way to access the hole?

To find answers to these questions, the medical team at Kauvery Heartcity Hospital headed by Paediatric Cardiologist Dr.Maniram Krishna and Cardiac Anaesthetist Dr.Pravin Kumar subjected the patient to a detailed evaluation. Echocardiogram confirmed that the wall of the diverticulum had adequate strength.  Later, the medical team also obtained a CT angiogram.  This allowed the doctors to plan the exact roadmap for carrying out a hassle-free procedure.

 “On completing these examinations, we realised that the defect was best closed from the neck instead of the leg, and hence the procedure was done under general anaesthesia by accessing the blood vessels from the neck and the leg,” said Dr.Maniram. The defect was successfully closed with a plug. “The entire procedure went smoothly as we expected based on the CT angiogram,” Dr.Pravin Kumar noted.  Having completed the procedure successfully, the smiling child went home the very next day. It is noteworthy that the child’s family comes from a non-descript village, and she was treated under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS) with no cost to the family. The unique combination of detailed pre-procedure evaluation and the advanced CT scanners available at Kauvery Heartcity Hospital played a crucial role in planning out each step of the procedure before the child was wheeled into the cath lab for best treatment outcome.

Congratulating the medical team which operated upon the patient, Kauvery Heartcity Hospital Executive Director and Group Head of Cardiac Sciences, Dr.T.Senthil Kumar said the successful procedure reiterated Kauvery Heartcity Hospital’s leadership position in treating complex cardiac issues. 

Interestingly, the Department of Paediatric Cardiology at Kauvery Heartcity Hospital has performed more than 500 keyhole procedures in children and adults with birth defects in the heart during the past 5 years with world class results.  At this juncture, it is also relevant to note that Kauvery Hospitals believe in extending quality treatment to everyone irrespective of his or her financial or social background including beneficiaries of Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Health Insurance Scheme (CMCHIS).