<p>A four-year-old child has undergone a heart transplant at Narayana Health hospital in Bengaluru making it one of the youngest cases of a heart transplant in the city.</p>.<p>The child which hails from Kolkata in West Bengal had a condition - dilated cardiomyopathy since the age of two. Even as his family tried getting him treated in their hometown, his condition only worsened. His struggles began when he was just two.</p>.<p>According to doctors, the disease had weakened his heart’s ability to pump and he was not in a condition to even eat or play. On admission the child’s condition was critical.</p>.<p>As the only treatment for end-stage heart failure is a heart transplant, the medical team advised the family to register with Jeevasarthakathe. The family registered with Jeevasarthakathe in February 2019.</p>.<p>It was after a wait of around 11 months that the child received a suitable heart on December 21, 2019, and the doctors performed the surgery. He was discharged from the hospital within 15 days after surgery and now leading a near-normal life. In fact, the doctors say, a heart transplant can be successfully done in selected cases with an excellent outcome in children as young as less than 1 year age.</p>.<p>Dr Julius Punnen, Heart and Lung Transplant Surgeon, Narayana Health City, said, “Apart from blood match the crucial aspect is the weight match. A patient can receive a heart from someone who is about two and a half times heavier than himself or herself. In this case, as the team had ensured the child was healthy as well as had an optimal weight we could find a matching donor and save his life by performing the heart transplant.”</p>.<p>The transplant surgery lasted for around 4 hours. After the surgery, the child was discharged within 15 days bringing an end to his 11-month long hospital stay.</p>
<p>A four-year-old child has undergone a heart transplant at Narayana Health hospital in Bengaluru making it one of the youngest cases of a heart transplant in the city.</p>.<p>The child which hails from Kolkata in West Bengal had a condition - dilated cardiomyopathy since the age of two. Even as his family tried getting him treated in their hometown, his condition only worsened. His struggles began when he was just two.</p>.<p>According to doctors, the disease had weakened his heart’s ability to pump and he was not in a condition to even eat or play. On admission the child’s condition was critical.</p>.<p>As the only treatment for end-stage heart failure is a heart transplant, the medical team advised the family to register with Jeevasarthakathe. The family registered with Jeevasarthakathe in February 2019.</p>.<p>It was after a wait of around 11 months that the child received a suitable heart on December 21, 2019, and the doctors performed the surgery. He was discharged from the hospital within 15 days after surgery and now leading a near-normal life. In fact, the doctors say, a heart transplant can be successfully done in selected cases with an excellent outcome in children as young as less than 1 year age.</p>.<p>Dr Julius Punnen, Heart and Lung Transplant Surgeon, Narayana Health City, said, “Apart from blood match the crucial aspect is the weight match. A patient can receive a heart from someone who is about two and a half times heavier than himself or herself. In this case, as the team had ensured the child was healthy as well as had an optimal weight we could find a matching donor and save his life by performing the heart transplant.”</p>.<p>The transplant surgery lasted for around 4 hours. After the surgery, the child was discharged within 15 days bringing an end to his 11-month long hospital stay.</p>