Date:08/11/2003 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2003/11/08/stories/2003110802780400.htm

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh

Complex heart surgery performed on kid

By Our Staff Reporter

The chief paediatric surgeon of Prince Charles Hospital, Peter Pohlner, with the patient before performing the rare surgery.

VISAKHAPATNAM NOV. 7. Over 150 doctors, mostly heart specialists drawn from Visakhapatnam, its neighbouring districts and parts of Orissa, watched live the four-hour-long complex and rare heart surgery conducted on a one-and-half-year-old child to correct a congenital problem.

The operation, using tetraology of fallot (ToF) technique, was conducted by seven doctors with the support of about a dozen technical staff under the supervision of Peter Pohlner, chief paediatric surgeon in the Price Charles Hospital, Brisbane.

The technique involves starving of blood flow in the child's lungs leading to admixture of pure and impure blood. The chief cardio thoracic surgeon of Apollo, Afroz Farooqui, assisted Dr. Pohlner, who had so far performed 3,000 paediatric heart surgeries. He came to the city from Australia to take part in a three-day international workshop on cardiovascular diseases and intensive care conducted by the Apollo Hospitals from Wednesday to Friday.

One of the two operations performed on children below one and half years was telecast live from the operation theatre for the benefit of cardiologists, paediatricians and anaesthetists, who watched it from a hotel. "It was just like a one-day international cricket. The result of the match is totally dependent on teamwork,'' he says.

The workshop highlighted several issues pertaining to current scenario in paediatric cardiology and cardiac surgery, management strategies in critically ill patient, risks and prevention of heart diseases and multi organ failure.

Though he is 70-year-old, Dr. Pohlner could charm the delegates with his grit and slim figure. "In my opinion, lack of regular physical exercises, too much stress and marriages within blood relations are some of the reasons for high incidence of heart diseases,'' he says and explains how comprehensive insurance policies had brought more patients to the doorsteps of specialist doctors in Australia.