A 14 month old infant from Pakistan suffering from 'Giant Left Atrium', a rare heart disease, underwent a surgery at a Delhi's hospital. This was the largest size of Left Atrium for the age reported in world literature, doctors said on Wednesday.
The surgeons informed that the volume of Left Atrium (LA) of the child was 87 ml while the normal volume is 12-20 ml in children. The surgery was performed at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital (SGRH)
"The left sided blood chamber of the heart (Left atrium) was hugely dilated. It was four times to the expected size. This situation is called Giant Left Atrium which was pressing on the nearby airway structures in the chest," said Dr Neeraj Aggarwal, Pediatric Cardiologist, SGRH. Also there was a large hole between the lower chambers of heart and left sided valve was leaking, he added.
The doctors at the hospital said that the case was very unusual as this was the largest size of Left atrium for the age reported in world literature.
"We operated the child in single stage, open heart surgery, where hole was closed, valve was repaired and Giant left atrium was reduced in size. According to available reports, this was the largest size of
Left atrium for the age reported in world literature," said Dr Raja Joshi, Chairman, Pediatric Cardiac Surgery, SGRH.
He also added that that as far as they remember only few cases of GLA have been reported in children below 2 years.
According to the doctors, the baby was brought to hospital with inability to feed properly, was having recurrent chest infections and every crawling movement was interrupted due to breathlessness. He was not able to grow, weighing only 6.5 kg at the time of admission.
The condition is rare but can be extremely fatal for the patient suffering from the disease."Giant Left Atrium (GLA) is a rare entity in pediatric population but carries a significant mortality risk.
When Left Atrium increases in size, it causes complications by compressing adjacent structures such as food pipe, spine, pulmonary vessels etc," said Dr Mridul Aggarwal, Pediatric Cardiologist, SGRH. The complications can be resolved after surgery, he added.
