Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) has successfully treated a ten-month-old baby’s complex congenital malformation in a seven hour long open-heart surgery.
A specialised team at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC), part of the SEHA network, successfully completed the surgery on Mohammed Hazmi, in coordination with the Department of Health Abu Dhabi.
The Rastelli procedure is a technically challenging open-heart surgery performed on cardiopulmonary bypass. The Aristotle scale measures the complexity of the surgery between 1.5 and 15 (1.5 being minor, to 15 being the most complex). Mohammad weighed only 5kg at the time of the procedure, and his surgery ranked 10 on the scale.
Recovering well
Mohammad was successfully extubated (taken off the ventilator) in the operating room after this complex procedure. He is now recovering with “excellent” haemodynamic results and without the often-associated narrowing of the pulmonary arteries, which are typically seen with Rastelli patients. He has no obstruction to pulmonary blood flow.
Rare speciality
Dr Zubaida Masoud Alismaili, Acting Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Sheikh Khalifa Medical City, said: “The Paediatric Cardiac Care team at SKMC is equipped to provide comprehensive medical care to children with congenital heart disease and its related complications by supervising the stability of their conditions before the operation and ensuring intensive care for them after complex cardiac surgeries. Paediatric heart surgery is one of the rare specialities that SKMC performs. We are proud to have such a specialized and experienced medical team perform such intricate heart surgeries.”
She added: “Our medical team of 12 doctors and nurses, technical and administrative staff, along with our state-of-the-art technology, have been instrumental in making Mohammad’s surgery a success.”
