Doctors at the Fortis Malar Hospital performed a heart transplant on a two-year-old boy from Russia with a serious cardiac condition that had affected the pumping of the heart.
The patient, Gleb Kudriavtsev from Moscow, was diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy when he was one year old.
His mother, Nelli, soon realised that they would not be able to find a solution in Russia and began exploring options abroad.
They first went to Germany, where the diagnosis was confirmed.
However, due to high lung pressure, they could not pursue treatment there. They finally came to India.
When he arrived, baby Gleb’s condition was critical, with low heart function and signs of poor kidney and lung function, Suresh Rao, head of critical care and cardiac anaesthesia, Fortis Malar, said. “After a month-and-a-half, during which time he suffered a stroke, the hospital received an alert that there was a suitable heart at Manipal Hospital, Bangalore,” he said.
In an eight-hour long surgery, the heart from the child from West Bengal was transplanted on December 19. “Even after transplantation, the boy suffered from right ventricular dysfunction caused by pulmonary artery hypertension,” Dr. Rao added.
K.R. Balakrishnan, director of Cardiac Sciences, said that with fewer donors, and the need to match the blood type and size, paediatric heart transplants were not common. “There are a number of hurdles to performing a successful paediatric cardiac transplantation. In many cases, the weight and the blood type of the donor does not match the recipient, and there is also the issue of transporting hearts,” he added.
Baby Gleb has a long way to go. “He is on immunosuppressants, and doctors are still considering how to reduce the risk of cancer and coronary artery vasculopathy,” Dr. Balakrishnan said.
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