A non-surgical heart procedure at Jehangir hospital has saved the life of a 44-day-old baby. The child was detected with a heart defect five days after birth. He gradually developed shortness of breath and his mother noticed that the child could not breastfeed longer than five minutes.

"The child's symptoms were suggestive of left ventricular failure, which, if not quickly treated, would be fatal. The aortic valve normally has 3 leaves, which move freely to allow effective blood flow through the heart into thebody. In this child there was only 1 leaflet and it was rigid, obstructing the blood flow severely," says Dr J S Dugal, head of the Department of cardiology at Jehangir hospital.

A special procedure called Balloon Aortic Valvoplasty was recommended as the only option in view of the severe left ventricle dysfunction. This delicate heart procedure was performed on the boy. The baby was hospitalised on October 11 and initially given IV medication to improve the heart function.

The procedure was performed on October 14 and the child was discharged after 9 days.

A follow-up after two weeks showed he was progressing well. According to Dr Dugal, , this procedure was unique given the age of the child, and his ailment-valve stenosis combined with only one leaflet present and very poor heart function.

The left side of the heart was pumping only 30 per cent of capacity because of the severe constriction posed by the stenosed valve. A check angiography post procedure showed that the valve had opened up well, there was no leakage or back flow of blood and the pressure gradient had been reduced to desired level, doctors said.