Better chances of survival for ‘heart-defect’ babies

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“With advances in medical sciences, babies with heart defects have a better chance of survival and a near-normal outlook in life.” This was stated by Dr Muneer Amanullah, Assistant Professor and Consultant Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon at Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH), speaking at a programme on ‘Children with Birth Heart Defects: Understanding the Treatment Options in Pakistan ' held in Quetta . He cautioned however that congenital heart disease remains a major cause of medical complications and mortality.

Explaining open-heart surgery, Dr Amanullah said that it requires the use of a heart and lung machine that temporarily takes over these vital organs ' workload during surgery. The risk factor in these procedures may vary from five to ten per cent: most cases can be scheduled on a routine, non-emergency basis.

Dr Amanullah spoke on common heart defects: a hole - in - the - heart and “Tetralogy of Fallot”, which brings a blue colour on the child's lips and nails. Both defects are correctable by surgery. He further said that in some defects, the heart has only one pumping chamber, and palliative operations are carried out to increase blood flow to the lungs or heart. The long-term outlook for patients with a hole in the heart and “blue babies” is good with a near normal life span.

The programme was also addressed by Dr Mehnaz Atiq, Associate Professor and Consultant Paediatrician at AKUH. She said that birth defects in the heart are common and over 100,000 babies with heart defects are born in Pakistan each year. 4,000-5,000 among them have serious defects requiring urgent treatment. Most defects are simple, requiring easy surger ies, some are difficult with increased risk factors and a few require multi-staged surgeries.

In simple hole-in-the-heart cases, the child may manifest suffering in the form of frequent pneumonia or not growing well. Such holes may have to be closed surgically within the first year of life. However, some defects may be corrected without surgery, by means of various devices. Serious defects such as severe coarctation of aorta and transposition of great arteries though call for an operation o n the newborn. Dr Atiq was happy to report that all of the referred types of surger ies are presently available in Pakistan.

As part of its outreach programme and societal commitment to creating awareness of early diagnosis and timely treatment, AKUH has organised over 230 ‘Signs, Symptoms and Care' programmes in Karachi , Hyderabad , Quetta , Nawabshah, and the UAE, benefiting more than 40,000 people. Similarly, AKUH 's Patient Welfare Programme offers financial assistance to those patients who are unable to afford the medical cost of treatment. Since the inception of this welfare programme in 1986, over Rs 1.6 billion has been disbursed to more than 300,000 needy patients.

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