The coolest thing I’ve ever seen in medicine

A DM reminded me of the coolest, most amazing thing I’ve probably ever seen in my medical career. How a baby on the brink of death was saved by an exceedingly cool cardiologist. The DM was in response to me gloating about winning a “Battle of the Specialties” event at UCL but the truth is medicine is a broad church with incredible experiences to be had in every field, you just got to find whatever inflates your balloon

[wordzmyth]

Imagine how many babies that pediatric cardiologist had saved in his career to be that relaxed and confident with the procedure 😮

[BallyBoy]

Okay... that actually was fascinating. Can't imagine how terrified the parents must've been. That paediatric cardiologist was certainly the GOAT of the day.

[Mcfreddo]

Marvellous and heartwarming to hear! Honestly.

[hughcrosthwait]

"I'm gonna tear you a new one"
That doc probably

[babaganouche]

I've found transposition of the great arteries as well as many other serious abnormalities in my career as an ultrasound technologist. It's amazing what we can do with technology, our wealth of knowledge and experience. So many people, including our yet to be born can now be saved.

[fishnet]

One of my relatives had a baby girl with exact this disease. She underwent surgery right after birth. Her body good recovered, she's strong and tall. Unfortunately her brain suffered a little bit. She got an infection after surgery which caused a loss of hearing ability. This was undetected by doctors until she was already too old and she missed the opportunity of development of speech. But in general she has a good life now (with some small disabilities)

[xeno]

Very cool to randomly see a video about this. I have TGA and Mustard repair at 9 months old. 42 years old now. I still see my cardiology team for follow up.

[Teverell]

My cousin had to take his baby son into hospital for some reason - I can't think what - and literally ran into A&E with his baby boy who wasn't breathing, wasn't responsive. And they did whatever they did and he's absolutely fine now - I only heard the story second-hand but the fear my cousin felt was palpable even in the retelling. I can't imagine what the parents of that baby must have been feeling, but to have that surgeon do that and bring the child back from the brink of death and give them a fighting chance - that's just an incredible amazing thing.

Thanks for sharing.

[MSocop]

Thank you for sharing your recollection of that fascinating pediatric cardiac surgery!

[owentheslug]

that is wild! i'm now off to google the original discovery of this procedure because i can't even think how someone thought of it in the first place

[jcortese]

TIL that transposition of the aorta and the pulmonary artery IS EVEN A THING OMG HOW THE HELL DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN?!

[Oberon]

My niece had open heart surgery a few hours after she was born. I forget the problem but she lived and is a healthy adult now.

[sharpphilip]

That the surgeon could just nail it in one go (it sounds like) is incredible; I suppose one only can “rehearse” that sort of thing through a pile of (what must be very tense) experiences?

I’ll have to stick with my nerdy means of making a living; that kind of finesse in a life-or-death spot isn’t the kind of skill I could ever hope to develop.

[jakobstadler]

Rashkind's procedure is definitely McGyver stuff

[leshommesdupilly]

One time, I've saw a guy with a single ventricle and single atrium. No right heart. His pulmonary artery and veinous cave weren't even connected to the heart at birth lol. He received life saving surgery to conect his pulmonary artery and his inferior veinous cave. He was 40yo, he was fine and chronically blue 😅

[thebesthomiegever]

a childhood friend of mine had open heart surgery when she was 6 months old and i wonder if this was why! awesome video as always 🙌🏽

[Aphelia.]

I never knew this was possible. Both the baby's condition and the emergency procedure.

[leizero]

Amazing story. Would love to hear more like this.

[markmcgibbon]

Was talking about a patient with this exact condition today

[Enoch-Root]

Heard about that hole in the heart issue just a little while ago while reading David Goggins first book. Apparently many people are born with it, but it quickly closes as you said.

Would have been interesting to hear more about this child with the reversed pipework, how is that solved?