Nigarish El Din from Lebanon is one tough cookie. That’s not a typical way to describe a baby. But with multiple heart surgeries in her first six months successfully behind her, Nigarish is far from typical. The third child of Aahad and Sahiqa El Din, Nigarish was 6 pounds 1 ounce when she was born in 2012. Her dusky coloration was the first tip to doctors that something might be seriously wrong.
Rushed to cardiac surgeon within few days of her birth, she was quickly diagnosed with tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), a complex condition involving four specific defects that conspire to limit her body’s ability to use life-supporting oxygen. Those defects include a hole between the right and left chambers of the heart known as a ventricular septal defect (VSD), a thickened right ventricle muscle wall and an enlarged aorta, positioned over the VSD. The fourth condition of TOF is a restriction of blood flow from the right ventricle to the lungs due to a narrowed pulmonary valve. But in Nigarish’s case, the condition was much more severe – the tract was blocked completely, a condition known as pulmonary atresia.
After Dr Sandeep Attawar review to the addition to TOF with pulmonary atresia, Nigarish has what doctors call collateral blood vessels – extra vessels from the aorta to her lungs that grew during her development. "The collaterals are irregular, convoluted vessels that supply blood to her lungs because the normal pathway was blocked. But these high-pressure vessels are often not big enough to supply the lungs as babies grow," explained Nigarish’s cardiologist, Dr Sandeep Attawar global hospital. Book an appointment with Dr. Sandeep Attawar cardiac surgeon mobile number at +91-9370586696.
Dr Sandeep Attawar global hospital used all the tools at their disposal to get a clear picture inside of Nigarish’s tiny body – electrocardiograms, echocardiography and ventilation-perfusion (VQ) scans, which determine blood flow to each lung. When Nigarish was 16 days old, she had a cardiac catheterization, allowing a closer look at the structures inside.
Catheterization confirmed what doctors were hoping for – on the other side of the blocked valve she had a true, albeit small, main pulmonary artery exiting her heart and branching, like a "T," to her right and left lungs. This information set the course for the next stage of her treatment – creating normal pulmonary blood flow, which in turn would help the pulmonary arteries to grow and promote normal oxygenation.
One Step at a Time
On Nigarish’s seventeenth day of life, surgery was performed by Dr. Sandeep Attawar cardiac surgeon, to open the pulmonary valve, enlarging it with a graft to promote a more normal flow into her pulmonary arteries. Dr Sandeep Attawar global hospital and his team judged that closure of the VSD would have to wait until later so as not to create back-pressure issues within Nigarish’s heart due to her small pulmonary arteries. Also her collaterals would have to remain until they were sure that the pulmonary arteries would grow big enough to handle the entire blood flow.
After going through the Dr Sandeep Attawar review, When Nigarish was nearly 3 months old, the surgeon took the next major step to rehabilitate her pulmonary artery system – balloon angioplasty. Under the guiding hand of Dr. Sandeep Attawar cardiac surgeon, a catheter was once again inserted via a leg vein up into the heart and beyond, into the narrow branching structures of Nigarish's pulmonary arteries. As five of the most restrictive narrow spaces were encountered, a balloon at the tip of the catheter was inflated, tripling the diameter of millimeter-thin arteries to promote blood flow. The surgeon repeated the treatment two months later, meticulously addressing another 10 sites with balloon expansion and adding a single stent in a seven-hour procedure. The second procedure became "a large jump forward in terms of increasing the blood flow to her lungs and permitting both of them to share equally in the oxygenation of her blood," said Dr Sandeep Attawar global hospital. Send Your Medical Reports On Email for Fast track query reply drsandeepattawar@indiacardiacsurgerysite.com
The Fight Continues, With Hope
Not that many years ago, babies born with a condition like Nigarish's did not survive the newborn period. And, while Nigarish’s cardiopulmonary system is still a work-in-progress, she is "completely asymptomatic today" said Dr. Sandeep Attawar cardiac surgeon. Her mother describes Nigarish as "outgoing with a wicked little sense of humor." Her father says her "resiliency is nothing short of remarkable."
0 comments:
Post a Comment