First stage: 1 Feb 2007 Baby Tran underwent an operation on the left side of her heart when she was 6 months old.
Dr Sriram identified the collateral arteries supplying the left lung, disconnected them from the aorta and joined them together into a single trunk.
Into this confluence, he placed a goretex shunt to carry blood from the aorta into the lungs.
Second stage: 6 Aug 2007
She underwent an operation on the right side of her heart.
Three collateral arteries were joined together into a single trunk, and Dr Sriram placed a 4mm shunt in.
Third stage: 13 Jul 2008
After reassessment by angiography, Dr Sriram:
1. took down the two shunts;
2. joined the left and right pulmonary trunks;
3. connected the newly formed pulmonary trunk to the right ventricle using a valved conduit (a tube with a valve);
4. closed the ventricular septal defect (the hole in the heart).
In this way, the circulation now has two systems, the right-sided chambers pumping blue de-oxygenated blood into the lungs and the blood returning from the lungs that is oxygenated, pumped into the aorta for distribution to the body.
Dr Sriram said: "Although the circulation is corrected with blue blood going into the lungs and pink to the rest of the body, the Achilles heel in this type of correction is that the tube with a valve will need to be replaced as the patient grows, possibly thrice in her lifetime."
This story was first published in The New Paper on Aug 1, 2008.
