The Hindu Business Line : Live workshop on paediatric heart surgery on July 15

PAEDIATRIC cardiologists from across the globe would have the privilege of witnessing live heart surgeries from the operation theatres and cardiac catheterisation laboratories in Hyderabad on July 15.

Six internationally renowned paediatric cardiac surgeons, including Dr V. Mohan Reddy from Stanford and Dr Alain Serraf from Mary Lannelonge Hospital of Paris, would demonstrate the cases during the live workshop at the three-day annual conference of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of India (PCSI).

Hundreds of paediatric cardiac surgeons, paediatric cardiologists, cardiac anaesthetists and paediatric cardiac intensivists are expected to participate in the annual PCSI conference, being hosted by the Apollo Children's Heart Hospital (ACHH). The foreign delegates would be mostly from the US, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Middle East, according to the conference Organising Secretary and Chief Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon at ACHH, Dr K.S. Murthy.

Addressing newspersons here on Tuesday, he said around 1.5 lakh to 2 lakh children were born every year in the country with congenital heart disease (CHD) and less than two per cent receive some form of treatment. He attributed the abysmal situation to lack of social awareness, paucity of dedicated medical teams and serious financial limitations.

The Interventional Paediatric Cardiologist at ACHH, Dr Anil S.R., said the live workshop at the conference highlights the recent developments that came in the field of non-surgical closure of cardiac defects in children. He said closure of holes has been a quite complex one in just born babies and is critical as the hole in the heart can lead to mortality.

However, he said, the new `Hybrid Procedure' avoids bypass surgery for the baby and thereby avoiding all complications and risks associated with it. The less complicated Hybrid Procedure, performed by cardiothoracic surgeon and cardiologist together on a beating heart, would be among the demonstrations at the live workshop, Dr Anil said.

Stressing the need for having many dedicated paediatric cardiac centres in the country to handle the burden of children with birth defects in the heart, the Director of Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS), Dr D. Prasad Rao, said NIMS proposes to have such dedicated centre soon.

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