Delhi hospital treats pre-term baby with hole in heart

Doctors at the Max Hospitals in Saket and Vaishali have successfully treated a critically ill, underweight, pre-term baby suffering from a condition known as PDA or Patent Ductus Arteriosus using a device called Piccolo.

Nishu, born pre-maturely in Western UP, developed respiratory problems after birth. He was also diagnosed with PDA -- a common condition detected in new-borns.

PDA causes a duct or an opening in a child's heart to stay open which otherwise would have closed within 3-7 days of the birth. This causes a backflow of blood from the heart to the lungs causing major complications due to the blood pooling in the lungs. If left untreated, PDAs are known to cause severe infections and impairs normal function of the lungs.

After a series of referrals from different NICU centres across UP, Nishu was brought to the Max Hospital on the 17th day after his birth. Besides severe respiratory distress and congestive heart failure, he also had partially treated sepsis with meningitis.


After initial stabilisation, the baby was given optimal respiratory support and appropriate antibiotics. The doctors planned for a device closure of PDA for which his parents were counselled.

"Post closure, the baby could finally take oral feed by day three of the procedure. Subsequent care was completed over the next few days and in follow-up consultations, the child has been doing increasingly well," Ramalingam Kalyan, Director and HoD, Paediatrics, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Vaishali, said in a statement.

The Piccolo device is already being used the world over to treat PDA in pre-term and new-born babies since it is approved by the US FDA. In India, this has only been used as a life-saving measure in south India, but now with the advent of this technology in north India, there is hope for such babies to lead a better, healthier life, with quicker healing.


"PDA cases were until now being treated with medicine-based management, waiting for the child to grow up and gain weight and reach the age of three to six months so that they could go ahead with surgical intervention. However, this could also be fatal since, as the child grew, the lungs would open to their maximum capacity and also soften up causing the blood flow to the lungs to increase more leading to major complications," said Neeraj Awasthy, Principal Consultant & Incharge, Paediatric Cardiology, Max Super Speciality Hospital, Saket.

"With the use of Piccolo, it is now possible to treat even a pre-term who weighs as low as 700 grams. The device is inserted through the leg vein and the procedure takes just a few minutes. While the preparation of this procedure at our end is longer, the good news is that the recovery starts soon after," Awasthy added.-IANS