NEW DELHI: In a first-of-its-kind operation in the country, a four-month-old baby girl, Aarohi, suffering from Alcapa (Anomalous Origin of Left Coronary Artery From Pulmonary Artery), a severe cardiac disease, underwent stem cell therapy last month at a private hospital in Chennai.

The operation is unique for two reasons: First, it was done on a four-month-old baby and second, the stem cells required for the procedure were harvested from her father's body. Usually, patient's own stem cells are harvested for operations like this.

"The child's heart was damaged and her cardiac function was not up to the mark. The only way of improving it was by injecting stem cells into the heart. Since Aarohi weighed only 4.5 kg, it was not possible to generate stem cells in her body. We matched her blood group with that of her parents. Her father's blood group matched and therefore we harvested stem cells from him and injected them into her heart muscle," Dr K M Cherian, chairman & CEO, Frontier Lifeline Hospitals and a senior surgeon who operated the child said.

Aarohi was kept under observation for three weeks before she was discharged last Sunday. "We are satisfied with the operation. She is doing fine," Aarohi’s father, Mayur Bhatt, told TOI.

Bhatt had to shell out Rs 2.5 lakh for the surgery. Aarohi will be taken to the hospital after three months for a check-up and will undergo several tests like echocardiogram and MRI.