Jaipur, December, 2020.

10-year-oldRajendra’s (name changed) physical growth was not on par with children his age. He suffered from an extremely rare condition known as Dextrocardia (reverse position of body organs) with Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). TOF is a combination of 4 heart defects that affect the structure of the heart and lead to the heart pumping oxygen poor blood to the rest of the body. Due to the case being extremely complicated and risky in nature, it was referred to the cardiac sciences team at Narayana Multispeciality hospital, Jaipur who accepted the challenge& successfully performed the surgery.

Hailing from small village in Rajasthan, Rajendra’s poor physical growth & recurrent breathlessness got his parents worried. An initial diagnosis at a local hospital revealed multiple heart defects along with Dextrocardia - an extremely rare congenital anomaly in which internal organs in the chest & abdomen are in reverse positions. The patient’s heart was on the right side instead of the left and liver on the left side instead of the right.The combination of multiple heart defects – pulmonary valve stenosis, hole in the heart (VSD), overriding aorta & right ventricular hypertrophy was jointly putting too much pressure on the heart & body, making an immediate corrective surgery important.

Dr. CP Srivastava, Director & HOD – Cardiac Surgery at Narayana Multispeciality Hospital, Jaipurwho performed the surgery said “Consider a right-handed person trying to write with his left hand or vice versa. The orientation changes completely and it becomes very difficult to do so. Same was the challenge in this case. We had to correct a combination of four heart defects which itself is a complicated surgery – in a body where the internal physiology is different. Such surgeries require a lot of experience as a slightest error during the surgery can cause the patient to go in complete heart block. I sincerely thank my team members and support staff for their support during the surgery and in the recovery stage”.

The defects were repaired successfully due to the collective expertise of the surgical team &cardiac anesthesia experts. All safety precautions were taken during the surgery & beyond to ensure a safe & speedy recovery. The child was discharged within 10 days post procedure and has gained 2.5 kgs thereafter in a short span of 45 days. Experts treating him are confident of him being able to lead a normal life like any other child his age hereafter.