Army Hospital performs transcatheter cardiac procedure on J&K child; saves life

Jammu, Mar 5: The paediatric cardiology team of the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), in an extraordinary medical achievement, successfully performed a high risk transcatheter (non-surgical) lifesaving cardiac procedure on an 8-year-old child at the Army Hospital (Research and Referral) in Delhi Cantonment.

“This procedure was performed on an eight-year-old civilian boy from Baramulla in Kashmir. He had a critical narrowing of Aorta (blood channel supplying pure blood to all the parts of the body) resulting in compromised blood supply to few vital organs of the body as well as reduced function of heart,” PRO Defence said, in an official statement.

He said that this challenging complex procedure was done through a small nick in the groin and involved implantation of a large stent. “It was an extremely life-threatening complicated procedure. However, it went off uneventfully and the child has been discharged in just three days post procedure without even a scar on the body,” PRO Defence said.

He stated that the boy was brought to this centre by Indian army’s Dagger Division under ‘Operation Sadbhavna’ in J&K, as his family was incapable of affording his treatment.

“With the collaborative efforts of Army Hospital (R&R), New Delhi, Chinar Corps and Dagger Division, J&K and Indrani Balan Foundation, Pune, the boy will now lead an absolutely normal life in future. The expertise of performing such a complex procedure is available only at a few centres in the country, including Army Hospital (R&R), Delhi Cantt,” PRO Defence said.