MICHIGAN – “Mighty Baby Girl” weighing just two-pound, has defied a tricky heart operation. She is just a week old and has become the world’s smallest baby to undergo such a major treatment.
Sasha, the infant, had a blocked artery owing to a congenital defect, and therefore had to undergo an operation the clear the artery.
According to the doctors, her pulmonary valves did not close or open as it has stuck. Doctors now assure of the improvement and proper growth of her heart like all other infants.
Alexandra Van Kirk also being called as “mighty girl” by her mother is an eight-week premature baby who is gradually recovering from a heart surgery. Heidi, her mother, revealed the doctor’s information regarding the under growth of her baby when she was 22 weeks pregnant. Despite all odds, she gave birth to this girl who just weighed two pounds and three ounces.
Dr. Joseph Vettukattil performed this tricky surgery at the Devos Children Hospital in Grand Rapids, and it took about 45 minutes. The doctor was an experienced one who already had performed the 300 balloon valvuloplasty in a last couple of decades, and this was his tiniest patient.
“The procedure required threading a tube into her hearth with a balloon attached to the end of it. The balloon is no bigger than a few millimetres. The balloon is then positioned across the stuck valve and then inflated to make the valve open,” said Dr. Schneider, a paediatric cardiologist.
“She’ll always have a slight murmur, but it’s nothing to be the concern about,” revealed the mother. “They are very excited about how it’s gone, and they watching it every day since and taking echoes of it, and it’s just great. Everything is going great with her heart.”
The family hopes to bring the baby home in the month of September.
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