Thirteen-year-old superheroes fan Seb is in for an operation to fix a life-threatening weakness in his heart.
Seb was born with a congenital heart defect. At 3-months-old, he began to have a series of ‘blue spells’ where he started to become really poorly.
At 4-months-old Seb’s parents, Ivan and Nadine, were told Seb would need surgery to have a new heart valve fitted to his heart.
Seb was given a new heart valve, which has now begun to leak. Instead of the blood being pumped to the lungs for oxygen, his blood is flowing backwards into his heart – without surgery, Seb’s condition will become critical.
Children’s heart surgeon, Asif performed Seb’s original operation and Nadine and Ivan have asked him to do the surgery this time too.
Following surgery, Seb is looking forward to doing more exercise without getting exhausted.
To help prepare Seb for surgery health care support worker Lisa gives Seb and his parents a tour of the theatre so they know just what to expect and so they can be as comfortable as possible.
There are tears as Seb heads down for surgery, “I love you” he says, as he goes off to sleep – with Lisa on hand to support Ivan and Nadine. Now surgeon Asif can begin the operation to replace Seb’s heart valve.
In cardiology theatre 2, Asif’s first challenge is to tackle the scar tissue from Seb’s previous heart surgery, which has fused his heart and lungs together.
Asif explains: “The most anxiety producing problem for me is the scar tissue. Trying to get that heart separated, without any damage to the lungs, damage to the heart or any other structures.”
This is the most dangerous part of the operation, as Asif dissects out the scar tissue from the heart, which can cause a heart attack.
Asif’s next task is to replace the valve, in order to do this safely he will need to stop Seb’s heart.
As Asif explains: “A still heart allows us to complex manoeuvre when the heart is not beating away.”
A bypass machine will take over the function of Seb’s heart and lungs, whilst his heart is stopped, the machine will be essential to keep Seb alive.
Asif explains: “The ability to stop the heart is based on science. I am going to do this by putting a cold solution which has got high potassium which is an electrolyte solution, which will allow the heart to stop still.”
Asif will try to keep the heart stopped for a minimum amount of time, which will allow him around 30 minutes to do the operation on Seb’s heart.
It’s been 12 minutes since Seb’s heart was stopped to allow Asif to put in a new life-saving valve. He has just 18 minutes left before he hopes to restart it.
Seb’s replacement valve is called a ‘homograft’ it has been specially treated to make sure Seb’s body doesn’t reject it.
Asif adds: “Suturing the pulmonary homograft is like suturing wet tissue paper. You have to be very careful when you are approximating the tissues together. If I join the homograft to the heart and somehow damage the value – that will not be good.”
Asif reinforces the homograft using extra stitches to prevent any bleeding. If Asif is to stay on track, Asif has just two minutes left to stitch the valve into place and restart Seb’s heart.
Asif explains: “There is a lot of anxiety after suturing the pulmonary homograph, the danger of course is – is the heart going to start? Of course, my heart also skips a beat sometimes, wondering if the heart will start or not. You want to see the heart beating away and beat normally.”
Seb is taken off the bypass machine, for his heart and lungs can take over the process. Asif now needs to assess if Seb’s heart valve is opening and closing as it should.
Asif is happy with the function of the new valve, and he goes to tell parents Ivan and Nadine the good news.
Asif adds: “As a surgeon, it is a huge responsibility, but the most important role is of the parents and how they support the child.”
Seb was back on the ward two days after surgery, he continues to recover like a superhero.
