Date:15/07/2005 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2005/07/15/stories/2005071512870500.htm

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Paediatric heart surgeons to discuss new methods

Special Correspondent

Annual meet of Indian division from today

HYDERABAD: Latest and novel surgical procedures to correct congenital heart defects will be demonstrated by leading paediatric heart surgeons from the US and France at the 7th annual conference of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of India, beginning here from Friday.

At the workshop, Alain Serraf from Paris will demonstrate the new approach to open heart surgery while maintaining the normal temperature of the body, called normothermic perfusion. V. Mohan Reddy, Chief Paediatric Cardiac Surgeon, Stanford University, US, will conduct "unifocalisation" in which multiple defects will be corrected through a single surgery.

Survival rate

Addressing a press conference here on Thursday, K.S.Murthy, chief paediatric cardio-vascular surgeon at Apollo Hospital, said that at least 15,000-20,000 children with congenital heart defects were born every year in the State.