Abu Dhabi: Doctors perform complex surgery on Emirati teen with heart disease

An experienced paediatric cardiac surgery team at Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Khalifa Medical City has successfully performed a complex surgery to treat an Emirati teenager born with a congenital heart defect.

Dr Benedict Rajkumar, consultant paediatric cardiac surgeon at SKMC, noted that Abdulla was born with a congenital heart disease that required surgeries, including one in the US as a newborn baby.

“The main blood vessel coming out of the heart, the aorta, was abnormal at birth. He had an obstruction over there, a block. So he was operated for the first time in the US as a newborn baby, but the obstruction was enlarged with a patch.” Over the past years, a blockage developed in the main blood vessel, which caused significant health problems.

“The patch developed a calcium deposition on the inside of the aorta, blocking it. The block has become worse over the past several years. And he needed that to be removed,” Dr Rajkumar said.

SKMC’s paediatric cardiac surgery team stepped in to perform complex and delicate surgery.

“We had to protect his brain and his other organs and do the surgery where we removed the blocked part of the aorta and replaced it with another tube. And within the next month, he got discharged. He should be able to go back to his normal life playing football, which is his favourite game,” Dr Rajkumar noted and added: “And we were able to do the surgery successfully here at SKMC because of the excellent team and infrastructure we have.”

Abdulla, who is now discharged from the hospital, thanked the medical team for their care.

“I am grateful to all the doctors, nurses and medical staff at SKMC for they have helped me regain my health and well-being,” Abdulla said.

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