Da Nang hospital treats a newborn's severe heart defect with a catheter balloon procedure

Da Nang Obstetrics and Paediatrics Hospital has treated a newborn with a severe congenital heart defect using a catheter-based balloon procedure, Báo Đà Nẵng reported on October 27. The baby was sent urgently from the Quảng Ngãi Obstetrics and Paediatrics Hospital at one day old.

On admission the infant weighed 3.5 kilograms, was cyanotic and had an oxygen saturation of 85 percent. Doctors diagnosed severe pulmonary valve stenosis, with a pressure difference across the valve of up to 70 mmHg. They first gave prostaglandin E1 to keep the ductus arteriosus open, supporting circulation to the lungs.

At two weeks old the baby underwent balloon dilation of the pulmonary valve. Vital signs stabilised within three days of the procedure and the infant was judged fit for discharge, the paper reported. It did not name the child or family.

Sources

• Can thiệp thành công cho trẻ sơ sinh bị dị tật tim bẩm sinh nặng (Báo Đà Nẵng, newborn-severe-heart-defect-balloon-valvuloplasty-da-nang-obstetrics-paediatrics-hospital0, in Vietnamese)

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