Delhi Army Hospital performs non-surgical transcatheter pulmonary valve implantation in 8-YO girl

In a unique achievement for the Armed Forces Medical Services (AFMS), its Paediatric Cardiology team at the Army Hospital (Research & Referral), New Delhi performed non-surgical transcatheter implantation of cardiac (Pulmonary) valve in two more children suffering from a congenital heart defect, through a small ‘nick’ in the groin.

As per reports, one of the girls, aged about 8 years and weighing merely 28 kilograms, is the youngest and smallest child in the country to have undergone such valve implantation, particularly in the Government sector.

The complex advanced intervention was performed on October 28 under the guidance of Lt Gen Daljit Singh, DGAFMS. Singh is the senior most serving pediatrician of the Armed Forces, Lt Gen Arindam Chatterjee, DGMS (Army) and Lt Gen Ajith Nilakantan, Commandant, Army Hospital (R&R), reported PIB.

The team has so far performed 13 cases of Pulmonary valve implantation in the last one year, which is the highest amongst the two Government institutes in the country that have done such cases.

The procedure was introduced in the AFMS by the team at Army Hospital (R&R) on October 7, 2022. Earlier, the cardiac (pulmonary) valve used to be replaced through an open heart bypass surgery. This was not only extremely painful and cumbersome but also carries a significant risk of morbidity and mortality as well as prolonged hospital stay, the report said.