Infant with protruding heart dies after 22 day battle

The 22-day battle of an infant born with a protruding heart came to an end today as a fatal bacterial infection resurrected after doctors at AIIMS successfully managed to place the heart back in a sophisticated surgery nearly a fortnight ago.

Dr AK Bisnoi, cardio-thoracic surgeon who conducted the surgery said the infant was suffering from three major bacterial infections which claimed his life this afternoon.

He said the boy had developed septicaemia resulting from three bacteria-Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus pneumoniae and E coli which proved fatal for him.

A team from pathology department of the Institute will carry out a detailed examination to know exact causes of the death so that further cases could be managed, sources in the hospital said.

The baby, born on August 26 in a poor family from Bihar, suffered from a rare medical condition Ectopia Cordis -- a birth defect wherein the heart protrudes outside the chest through a split sternum.

After undergoing a surgery in September wherein doctors had successfully put his protruding heart inside, he was shifted to the ICU. His condition was stable but critical.

According to paediatric surgeons at the hospital nobody with such a condition has survived for so many days like this baby has.