Infant suffering heart attack operated at Mumbai hospital

A two-month-old baby girl suffering from frequent and silent heart attacks damaging heart muscles was successfully operated upon at a Mumbai hospital, doctors said.

According to the doctors at the Sri H.N. Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre, the baby came with a problem of fast breathing, feeding poorly and crying incessantly.

"Doctors conducting an echocardiography on her found an abnormal artery origin which was turning away majority of the blood supply from the heart, and was reversing the blood flow away from the heart as well," a statement from the hospital said.

"Having been born with this defect, the baby was suffering repeated heart attacks," the statement added.

A team led by Shivaprakash, chief surgeon and head of Paediatric Heart Centre at the hospital, operated on the baby on February 22. The artery was disconnected from its abnormal origin, and was reimplanted at its right place in the aorta.

The girl baby's condition stabilised after five days and she is likely to be dischared in the next few days.

With a gradual but steady recovery, she is expected to have normal heart function in the next few months, and should be able to lead a normal life, the hospital said.