Kolkata's hospital operates bypass surgery of a Bangladeshi girl successfully

This is an inherited condition, in which the level of bad cholesterol in the blood is much higher than normal (total cholesterol more than 600) from birth leading to aggressive and premature cardiovascular disease.

High deposition of lipids in the coronary artery had started hampering the nutrition supply to the heart muscles. The damage had extended beyond the coronary arteries to the entire aorta as well as other arterial system including her both internal mammary.

The pediatric cardiac team at RTIICS performed a coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) on the girl to clear the blocks. New vessels were harvested to rectify the myocardial damage.

Doctors of RTIICS confirmed that she was the youngest girl in Eastern India who underwent a CABG as a result of Familial Hypercholesterolemia. "We did bypass surgeries of 2 children before, but Rabita is the youngest of them," Mrinalendu Das told IBNS.

The child was admitted to the hospital on Mar 3. She was operated on Mar 9 and discharged from the hospital on Mar 16.

Rabita's surgery was done by a medical team lead by senior cardiothoracic  surgeon of RTIICS Mrinalendu Das. She was being treated there under the observations of consultant intervention al pediatric cardiologist Amitabha Chatterjee, pediatric cardiologist Biswajit Banerjee, cardiac anesthetist Emanuel Rupert, anaesthesiologist Saibal Roy Chowdhury, Mahua Roy, Kuntal Bhattacharya and Lokesh Kukatla.

Mrinalendu Das said, “It was necessary for us to harvest new vessels from other parts of the body, considering the whole aorta and internal mammary was diseased. The processes of placing the grafts were extremely challenging since this type of surgeries are usually performed on adults.”

Amitabha Chatterjee said, “As FH is a genetic disorder, screening of affected families may be done. Antenatal diagnosis is possible in selective centers by conducting some specialized tests on amniotic fluid from the mother’s womb. The process of vascular disease therefore can have its origins even prior to our children’s birth. Any child born of parents who are affected by FH has a 50% chance of being affected by this disorder and it is advisable that he or she gets their blood cholesterol checked once a year to confirm on the same. When the girl walked in our OPD, our team of doctors conducted blood tests, angiogram and a CT angiogram of the coronaries for exact delineation of the lesions”

The doctors said confidently that she would be able to lead a normal life but followup of her health was needed.

When was asked about the cost of the whole treatment, Amitabha Chatterjee told IBNS that it was around 3 lakh.

Rabita Iqbal's mother Rubaiya Rehman came to RTIICS before few days for her daughter's health check up. She told IBNS, "In Bangladesh I did not get proper treatment." She also requested to the hospital authority to consider the cost as their financial condition was not good enough.

(Reporting by Deepayan Sinha)