Surgeons perform open-heart surgery on woman while delivering her baby at the same time

Surgeons performed life-saving open-heart surgery on a pregnant woman - while delivering her baby at the same time. When Rachael Joy, 36, first went to hospital suffering from chest pains, doctors believed she was suffering the after-effects of a bad cough and sent her home.

But hours later, she started coughing up blood and returned to hospital. It was only then doctors discovered she had a rare and dangerous heart condition, aortic dissection. Left untreated, they say Rachael - who was 36 weeks pregnant at the time - would have died from heart failure within 24 to 48 hours.



"Suddenly I had an oxygen mask on my face and there were eight consultants in my room," said Rachael. "I knew it wasn't good. They explained they needed to do an operation."

Doctors warned her she had a 25 per cent chance of dying on the operating table. Rachael said: "When they told me this was probably the only child I would have it freaked me out. I realise in hindsight that was the least of my worries." Doctors first performed a Caesarean section on Rachael, and her son Charlie was born, weighing 5lbs 4oz. Then, while the obstetricians were stitching Rachael up, surgeons started on open-heart surgery.



During the six-hour operation, a team of 10 doctors took out her damaged aortic valve and part of the ruptured aorta and replaced it with a synthetic valve and tube. "As soon as I woke up, the nurses in intensive care told me I'd had a boy and that he was fine," said Rachael. She saw her son for the first time on Christmas Eve, three days after the life-saving op. "It was lovely to meet him finally," she said.

Rachael's doctor David Lefroy, a consultant cardiologist at Hammersmith Hospital in London, said: "This is the first case I have ever seen occurring during pregnancy."