Cured, the boy whose blood flowed the WRONG WAY round.......
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Cured, the boy whose blood flowed the WRONG WAY round his body
A toddler has had pioneering surgery to stop his heart pumping blood the wrong way around his body.
Alec Hutchinson, three, was born with a rare condition which meant the blood vessels in his heart were plumbed in back to front.
Only a handful of babies every year are born with the condition, which is called Congenitally Corrected Transposition.
In sufferers, the artery taking oxygenated blood to the body, the aorta, is connected to the smaller pumping chamber of the heart, the right ventricle.
Brave: Alec Hutchinson recovers after the gruelling operation, the
first such procedure carried out by surgeons at Newcastle's Freeman
hospitalThis means it cannot create a large enough amount of pressure to push blood all the way round the body. As a result of this, Alec had low oxygen levels in his blood and was often breathless and blue.
The condition was corrected by a 'double switch' procedure to turn his heart vessels around, which was carried out four weeks ago.
There was a one in five chance that Alec would not survive the operation - but thankfully everything went to plan.
It was the first time that the surgeons at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle had carried out the double switch. Because of their success, they will offer the procedure to other youngsters with the same condition.
Alec is now recovering with his parents, Lynne Hall and Brian Hutchinson, in Dipton, County Durham.
Mr Hutchinson, 41, a maintenance engineer, said: "Everyone thought it was just a viral infection at first but we knew something was wrong. He was just crying all the time and it was as if he was panting for breath.
"They ran tests and eventually found he had an irregular heartbeat. Then we were told things were bad and he had a hole in his heart."
Heart surgeon Asif Hasan said that further investigation revealed the extent of Alec's condition.
"Alec's heart was pretty scrambled really," he said.
"The blue blood which comes into the heart was coming into the wrong side. He was blue because he had a low level of oxygen in his blood and he couldn't have survived without an operation.
"We had to switch the blood vessels around so his heart was correctly connected. It's a big operation but it went well. He was out of intensive care quickly and now he is home.
Bouncing back: Alex can now ride his bike again and is no longer breathless and blue"His prognosis is good and he should lead a normal life. It's an unusual operation to do and it's the first one we have done here in Newcastle."
Mr Hutchinson said that Alec had found the operation draining, but had soon bounced back.
"Alec is back to his old self, bossing everybody around. He's been a brave lad. Since the operation he's been able to ride his bike again."
Miss Hall, 30, a nursery assistant, added: "I'm over the moon now it's all over. He's back to his cheeky little self."
Doctors discovered Alec had the condition when he was just five weeks old.
An initial operation was carried out to improve his condition but the family was told he would need the double switch while he was still very young.
Mr Hutchinson said: "It was all very nerve-racking, as you can imagine. But they put us at ease straight away. Dr Hasan was amazing, a really nice man.
"He explained everything using a model of a heart and really put our minds at rest."
Alec has now been reunited with his older sister Lauren, eight, and is expected to lead a perfectly normal life.
Source: Daily Mail, UK. Mar. 26, 2008
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so cute