Meet Our Patients: Leah Rose Stipelcovich Leah is a beautiful 4-month-old girl who had a heart murmur and congestive heart failure. She was found to have a large hole in her heart between the upper chambers (Atrial Septal Defect - ASD). She had heart surgery to repair the hole in her heart. She had an Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) which means she had a hole between the upper two chambers of the heart (the Right Atrium and Left Atrium). This means the blood flowed from the Left Atrium through the hole (Atrial Septal Defect) to the Right Atrium, on to the Right Ventricle, and then to the lungs. This created an overflow of blood in her lungs. Her lungs became congested and she developed Congestive Heart Failure. She needed to be on cardiac medication to help decrease her symptoms of heart congestion, specifically Lasix. (Lasix is a medicine given by mouth to take away the excessive fluid in the lungs so your baby can breathe easier.) However, because her heart was getting larger and because the hole was so big we elected to proceed with surgery.

As you see in the picture taken during her surgery, the hole in her heart was as big as a quarter. This same picture also shows two large tubes which the surgeon uses to divert the blood away from the heart to the heart lung machine so that the heart would be empty during the operation and make it much easier to work on.

Leah's heart opening was closed using sutures and no synthetic material was added. If you look at the photo of Leah you will also notice how small the incision is in her chest. This is a new technique that we advocate using for our patients at The Children's Heart Institute which puts a small cut in the breast bone. The benefit of this is that the breast bone is not cut all the way so it remains stable, easy to heal, and the cut is located low between the breasts so that as the child grows she will be able to swim and do other activities without a scar showing. On the third hospital day Leah was walking in the hallway and asking to go home. She was granted that and she came for a follow up appointment 2 weeks later. She is doing very well and is due to be seen again in 3 to 6 months. Please congratulate this brave little girl who gave lots of hugs to her nurses.

To learn more about Leah's condition, check out the following links: • Heart Murmur • Atrial Septal Defect - ASD (hole in the heart) • Congestive Heart Failure