An 11-year-old boy from Cairo, Egypt, was airlifted to Chennai early March in an unconscious state. Omar, who had restrictive cardiomyopathy and high pulmonary hypertension, was very sick, frail, had difficulty in breathing and was extremely underweight.
His mother Noha Almohamady Fatouh Dabash, a paediatrician, said the fifth-grader had been sick for several years. His condition deteriorated rapidly a year ago.
“He couldn’t sleep, eat well and was vomiting. We reached out everywhere. Europe refused to take him,” she recalled.
The paediatrician who was treating Omar referred him to K.R. Balakrishnan, chairman,Cardiac Sciences, and director of the Institute of Heart and Lung Transplant and Mechanical Circulatory Support at MGM Healthcare here.
Though it was apparent that the boy needed a heart transplant, doctors everywhere hesitated because of the boy’s condition. He was weak, just skin and bones, drifting in and out of consciousness, had high blood pressure and high pulmonary pressure.
Dr. Balakrishnan had a solution but was not sure if the boy’s chest cavity would allow him to implant LVAD, the left ventricle assistive device — a pump that would take over the heart’s function and allow the organ to gain strength. The LVAD is designed for adult hearts. There are no devices for children yet. Omar’s chest cavity was very small. The concern was whether the device would fit into the child.
Dr. Balakrishnan fell back on his research collaborator of several decades from the Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Krishna Kumar, a professor in the Department of Engineering Design. Following discussions, he and his student Sathish Kumar built the virtual reality model overnight using CT scans of the boy’s heart. The surgeon used 3D glasses to implant the LVAD pump virtually, much like a computer game.
Post-surgery Omar was on ventilator support for three weeks. His heart gained strength and he gained weight. He now weighs 24 kg, his mother said.
On Thursday, in a virtual press meet organised by the hospital, Omar danced to his favourite Hindi movie songs for the audience.
Egypt’s military had airlifted the boy to Chennai. Now the mother and son are awaiting the opening up of air services to return home. According to the mother, the expenses were borne by the Egyptian government.
“When Dr. Balakrishnan tells me that it was crucial input in saving the life of a child, what more can a researcher ask for,” Prof. Krishna Kumar said.
K.G. Suresh Rao, head of cardiac anaesthesia and cardiac critical care, said such a procedure had been performed for the first time in the country. “Worldwide there are only two reports of paediatric LVAD implant using virtual reality, both in the United States of America,” he said.
The technique will be presented virtually at the annual conference of the American Society of Artificial Internal Organs to be held on June 1, said R. Ravi Kumar, a senior consultant and associate clinical lead, cardiology and heart failure programme.