The surgery took place at Schneider Children's Medical Center in Petach Tikvah and succeeded in saving the baby's life, reports Israel21c. The infant, one of a set of twins born a month ago in the 30th week of pregnancy, suffered from a congenital heart defect.
The major arteries of the child's heart were in the wrong place, with the right pulmonary artery rising from the aorta instead of from the major pulmonary artery.
"This condition caused a tremendous overload of blood in both lungs," said Dr. Einat Birk, Director of the Cardiology Institute at Schneider and Dr. Michael Berant, Director of the Institute's Echocardiography Unit. "The lungs slowly deteriorated, resulting in severe heart failure with the infant's life at stake."
The Israeli specialists carried out the operation following consultation with specialists abroad. The operation was the first time that open heart surgery utilizing a heart-lung machine was conducted on such a small infant in Israel. Worldwide, there have only been a handful of such cases.
Last Thursday, the operation was took place and was successful. The infant is now recovering in the Neonatal Department of Schneider Hospital.