Premature Anderson Infant Saved with First of Its Kind Heart Surgery

11/05/2007

Indianapolis - Three-week-old Nevaeh Fuller is recovering from successful surgery at Riley Hospital for Children to repair a rare heart defect. Surgeons at Riley say the procedure on the baby weighing less than three pounds was the first open heart surgery done on such a small infant.Three-week-old Nevaeh Fuller is recovering from successful surgery at Riley Hospital for Children to repair a rare heart defect. Surgeons at Riley say the procedure on the baby weighing less than three pounds was the first open heart surgery done on such a small infant.

Nevaeh was born 10 weeks premature with a bluish color from a heart condition that is fatal if left untreated. Nevaeh's challenges were due to total anomalous pulmonary venous return (TAPVR). This condition is a rare heart defect when the pulmonary veins don't return fresh blood to the heart. It accounts for less than one percent of all congenital heart defects.

John Brown, Harris B. Shumacker Professor of Surgery at Indiana School of Medicine and Riley Hospital for Children, was concerned about performing the surgery on such a premature infant. "We were hoping to buy time and let her grow, but her lungs were failing. We had one opportunity and we decided to go for broke," says Brown.

Nevaeh is so small doctors had to remove some of the tubes normally used during the procedure to have room to work on her tiny heart. The surgery itself is remarkable, with the infant placed in circulatory arrest and deep hypothermia as the body is cooled to about 70 degrees.

In a normal heart, four pulmonary veins bring red blood back from the lungs to the heart's left upper chamber (the left atrium). Two veins bring red blood from the right lung and two bring red blood from the left. In a baby with TAPVR, all of the pulmonary veins return to the right atrium instead of the left atrium.

Nevaeh's parents Sarah Fuller and Rodrick King say their faith sustained them during this trial. They even named their daughter for the incredible journey she has already taken. Her name is Heaven spelled in reverse.