'Little Nipuna is doing fine'

Dr Gamini Ranasinghe performed the first successful (ASO) in Sri Lanka

by Rosanne Koelmeyer Anderson

Little Nipuna of Gampaha, the first baby to survive the first successful neonatal Arterial Switch Operation(ASO),(the first ASO in the government medical history of Sri Lanka) performed at the Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) Borella on October 1 was brought for his first check up on Tuesday to the LRH. Dr Gamini Ranasinghe, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon of LRH who performed the record breaking operation told the Sunday Observer that he is glad that little Nipuna is doing absolutely fine.

Forty four old G. K. Jasintha, the mother of little baby Nipuna is very happy that the life saving surgery saved her only child as the possibility of her conceiving again was uncertain due to her complicated medical history, according to medical sources.

The ASO is a crucial operation and has to be done in the case of serious coronary conditions in babies in the neonatal stage, before the fourteenth day of birth. Ninety per cent do not survive, Dr Ranasinghe said.

In little Nipuna's case the operation was performed on the thirteenth day at the newly commissioned Cardiothoracic Unit of the LRH, Borella by Dr.Gamini Ranasinghe when he took up the plunge to do the operation together with Dr Kanchana Singappuli, Consultant Cardiac Anesthetists, Kamal Gunawardene, Drs Anoma Perera and M.S.M. Nawaz, anesthetists and a team of Para medical and medical staff.

This operation had been attempted in the National Hospital and Sri Jayawardenapura Hospital earlier but had been a failure. The operation was a step forward in Sri Lanka's medical advancement, Dr Ranasinghe said.

When little Nipuna was detected with a serious coronary condition soon after he was born at the Gampaha Base Hospital, his nails had turned very blue and the baby had showed signs of acute illness. He was brought down to LRH for immediate diagnosis and assessment within twenty four hours.

According to Dr Ranasinghe, the (ASO) was an eight hour operation and the coronary transfer (where you transfer the arteries supplying blood to the heart to another position)was a very delicate operation which had involved meticulous and accurate handling with every single stitch which was the deciding factor of the fate of the baby.

The Lady Ridgeway Hospital (LRH) Borella is the premier Children's Hospital in Asia. Director of the LRH, Sulochana Yoganathan told the Sunday Observer said she was proud of the Hospital's record of success in the neonatal Arterial Switch Operation (ASO) in Sri Lanka and Dr Ranasinghe's great achievement which led to LRH creating government medical history as the first government hospital to do a successful (ASO) operation.

The Cardiothoracic Unit of the LRH which was commissioned in January is fully equipped to perform major cardiac surgery, Dr Ranasinghe said.

[email protected]