Three Procedures to Save a Baby Girl with Half a Heart

Two-week old Mira Larrison was saved by University of Michigan doctors, whom became one of the first in the nation to use combination of procedures, before birth and immediately after delivery, to save a girl born with half a heart. Mira has diagnosed with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) at 18 weeks inside her mother’s womb. Babies with HLHS cannot pump enough oxygen-rich blood to meet the body’s needs. In turn, around 95% of HLHS babies die within one month. It is normally treated with a heart transplant or a series of three heart surgeries, beginning at birth. As if HLHS was not serious enough, she also lacked a critical hole in her heart that if left untreated, would not relieve the pressure on the left side of her heart, and would result in serious illness and perhaps not survive for any further treatment. To top it all off, she was also diagnosed with Turners syndrome as well, placing her at very high risk for the traditional surgical procedures for HLHS explained above.

So how did doctors save her? First, using a using a needle inserted through the mother’s abdomen and into Mira’s heart, doctors used a balloon to create a much needed hole, allowing Mira to have a stable birth. Next, since Mira was unable to have traditional surgeries used for HLHS, doctors used a hybrid approach. In hybrid procedures, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons work side-by-side to treat patients without using a heart bypass machine. Two hybrid procedures were performed on Mira, the first on January 27th and the next on January 29th. After the hybrid procedures, Mira was taken from the delivery room to the cardiac catheterization room. The doctors placed bands on the pulmonary arteries to direct more blood flow to the body, and placed a stent between the top chambers of the heart to further improve blood flow. Once she stabilized, the same team inserted additional stents to ensure blood flow to her body. Mira will need more surgeries at 4 months old and two years, but Mira has already accomplished what many others cannot and achieved many significant milestones for her survival.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090213100720.htm