The surgery was performed on a newborn weighing 2.5 kg. According to Yuri Linnik, Head of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Department at the National Research and Treatment Center for Pediatric Surgery, the operation was truly unique. «The baby was admitted to us as an emergency patient immediately after birth. At birth, the baby was diagnosed with a complex congenital heart disease consisting of an interrupted aortic arch and a ventricular septal defect. This, I repeat, is a serious condition that requires an emergency intervention in the first days or weeks of the child’s life,» he said.

The department head noted that the greatest challenge was the baby’s low birth weight. «Such a low birth weight presents a significant challenge for this type of surgery, which necessitates cardiopulmonary bypass and induced cardiac arrest,» added Yuri Linnik, noting that this is associated with a high number of postoperative and intraoperative complications.

Most medical facilities approach the treatment of such children through several staged surgeries. The first can be performed in the first days after birth, with subsequent surgeries occurring later. Typically, the surgical treatment is completed by the age of one year.

«In our case, we decided to resort to a single-stage surgical correction, meaning that in a single operation, we repaired the interrupted aortic arch, restored the integrity of the main artery leading from the heart, and closed the ventricular septal defect,» explained Yuri Linnik.
The Belarusian cardiac surgeons managed to avoid complications during the surgery. The baby spent several days in the intensive care unit and was transferred to a regular ward for rehabilitation. The child is scheduled to be discharged next week.