14-year-old boy with hole in heart gets a new lease of life

A 14-year-old boy born with a hole in his heart, which was on the right side of his chest, was successfully treated at Fortis Hospital, Mulund.

Experts say the case was brought to light extremely late, and appeared untreatable since his pulmonary pressure was very high and he had damaged his lungs to quite an extent.

Coincidentally, his 12-year-old sister also suffers from the same disorder, and now awaits her turn to be operated upon. 

Manoj Padol, from Sonewadi  in Nashik, was diagnosed to have congenital heart disease at two months. His surgery was deferred till he was 14, as his parents did not have the wherewithal to treat him. “A child with such a condition should be operated upon before he turns six months,” said Dr Suresh Joshi, consultant cardio surgeon at Fortis hospital, Mulund.

A ninth standard student, Manoj began to complain of severe tiredness of late, along with other problems, and his parents finally decided to take him to a doctor.  “The parents went to several doctors, and everyone said it was untreatable. He had severe pulmonary hypertension,” added Dr Joshi. 

 Manoj underwent VSD (ventricular septal defect) closure surgery a few days back. “The pulmonary arterial pressures dropped to about half of the systemic pressures inside the operation theatre itself, giving the team encouraging signals that it had made the right decision. After four days of ventilatory support and with the aid of inhaled nitric oxide, the patient was weaned off ventilatory support and extubated,” said Dr Joshi. 

Dr Kaushal Chatrappati, interventional cardiologist, Survana Hospital, said, “It is a very complex case, especially since the pulmonary pressure was high.  People tend to ignore holes in hearts, and other congenital heart problems. Delay always makes treatment difficult.”