UAE doctors perform open heart surgery on 10-month-old baby

Abu Dhabi - The procedure ranks 10 on a scale of 15 that measures surgery complexity.

A seven-hour open heart surgery performed on a 10-month-old baby boy has helped treat his complex congenital malformation.

Mohammed Hazmi weighed only 5kg at the time of the surgery. The procedure ranks 10 on a scale of 15 that measures surgery complexity, the Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (Seha) said.

The successful surgery was carried out at the Sheikh Khalifa Medical City (SKMC) in coordination with the Department of Health Abu Dhabi.

The Rastelli procedure is a technically challenging open heart surgery performed on cardiopulmonary bypass.

It is performed for certain combinations of congenital heart disease. The baby boy was successfully extubated (taken off ventilator) in the operating room after the complex procedure.

“Mohammed is now recovering with excellent hemodynamic results and without the often-associated narrowing of the pulmonary arteries, which are seen with Rastelli patients. He has no obstruction to pulmonary blood flow.”