3-yr-old Russian boy recovers after Berlin Heart implantation in Chennai

In a first for South Asia, a critical heart transplant operation via 'surgical biventricular heart implantation' was conducted on a three-year-old boy from Russia by a team of doctors at MGM Healthcare here, according to the hospital press release.

The child, Lev Fedorenko, suffered from a heart condition called Restrictive Cardiomyopathy and has recovered after the operation, stated the release.

The procedure was performed on May 25 by a team led by Dr KR Balakrishnan, Chairman and Director of Cardiac Sciences and Director of the Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechcal Circulatory Support Program. Other members of the team constituted Dr Suresh Rao KG, Co-Director - Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechcal Circulatory Support and HOD - Cardiac Anaesthesia and Dr V Srinath, cardiac surgeon and Dr S Ganapathy, senior consultant at MGM Healthcare.

"The three-year-old child was brought in the hospital with severe restrictive cardiomyopathy. The child had two cardiac arrests before he was brought at the hospital. We used Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) to revive him. After this doctor felt that the only option left to revive the child was by putting a mechcal pump supporting the heart," said Dr Rao KG, while speaking to .

Earlier, doctors had put Berlin Heart pipe on the child, which was brought in from Germany when almost the whole world was experiencing lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Dr Rao KG further said, "We had implanted mechcal pumps among adults before. But for the pediatric age group below 10 kg, there are not many pumps readily available. So, the only pump we could put was the Berlin Heart. It was never was done in South Asia before. We had it import it from Germany. It was a COVID time when we contacted the Berlin Heart company. They sent the machine by cargo and also provided online support to biomedical engineers to install the pump."

As per the release, it was a virtual collaborative effort with support from teams from the UK and Germany, along with the Indian surgical team to save the child's life over a seven-hour long surgery.

Further talking about the case, Dr Balakrishnan, added, "The child was very sick and had two episodes of cardiac arrests. It was a major operation. We trusted our skills. I am happy that it eventually turned out well."

Dr Balakrishnan informed that the child is doing well now. Due to the current [COVID] times, operating the child with double masks and gloves was not easy, he added.

( With inputs from ANI )