Thiruvananthapuram: 13-year-old suffers heart attack, undergoes bypass

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: In a rare case, a 13-year-old girl who suffered a heart attack underwent bypass surgery at the Thiruvananthapruam Medical College.

The doctors at the medical college claimed that it was first case of juvenile heart attack in Kerala and perhaps very rare in the country, which warranted a bypass surgery. The doctors say that the possibility of heart attack among girls is very rare and that makes this particular case special.

The girl belonging to Neendakara in Kollam district sought treatment at many hospitals following chest pain, before finally landing in the medical college. Since the possibility of heart attack among children was unheard till now, the doctors examined her for any congenital heart disease, but could not find any defect.

With chest pain continuing, cardiology department team led by Dr George Koshy examined her and found signs of heart attack in the ECG. She was then subjected to angiogram.

It was found that the girl had 99 per cent block in major blood vessel and 50 per cent in another blood vessel. The blood vessels also had other defects.

Under these circumstances, a stent could not have been placed after angioplasty. Therefore, doctors decided to perform bypass surgery.

Experts say among adults, blood pressure, diabetes and smoking are the major causes for atherosclerosis, which results in block in blood vessels. Among children Takayasu arteritis, Kawasaki disease and congenital heart problems are reported more often.

“However, the child had different symptoms. During the surgery, it was found the heart attack was not the kind which is usually seen among adults,” Dr Koshy said.