Open heart surgery performed on 10-month-old baby in Abu Dhabi

Complex procedure took seven hours to complete

Doctors in Abu Dhabi perform open heart surgery on a 10-month-old baby.

Doctors in Abu Dhabi successfully completed open heart surgery on a 10-month old baby at Sheikh Khalifa Medical City.

The complex operation took seven hours to complete as a synthetic patch was used to close a congenital defect in baby Mohammed's heart. He weighed only five kilograms at the time of the procedure.

The operation was completed by an expert team of 12 doctors and nurses.

“The paediatric cardiac care team at SKMC is equipped to provide comprehensive medical care to children with congenital heart disease and its related complications by supervising the stability of their conditions before the operation and ensuring intensive care for them after complex cardiac surgeries,” said Dr Zubaida Alismaili, acting deputy chief medical officer at SKMC.

“Paediatric heart surgery is one of the rare specialties that SKMC performs. We are proud to have such a specialised and experienced medical team perform such intricate heart surgeries.

“Our medical team of 12 doctors and nurses, technical and administrative staff, along with our state-of-the-art technology, have been instrumental in making Mohammed’s surgery a success.”

Mohammed is now said to be recovering with “excellent results” from his surgery and has not experienced a narrowing of the pulmonary arteries, which is common in patients who undergo the procedure.