Parents overjoyed

3D representation of heart saves little Elias’ life

Upper Austria's top doctors look after little Elias. Mom Bianca Wechselberger and dad Steven Hollauf are looking forward to the final operation.

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

The little boy from Carinthia was born at the children's hospital in Linz with an extremely complex malformation. A computer tomography scan enabled the surgeons to "fix" everything with just two operations. The parents are overjoyed after the successful operation, as they told the "Krone" newspaper.

"It was the end of the world, we were both completely taken by surprise," Bianca Wechselberger describes. "You ask yourself countless times how this can happen!" Neither her family nor that of her partner Steven Hollauf had ever had heart defects. "You blame yourself so much. It was a massive burden for us, and it started five months before the birth when the malformations were discovered during an organ screening," agrees the 31-year-old, adding: "Elias chose us. Now the only question was: how do we cope now?"

Several complex heart defects
But right from the start: During a prenatal examination in Klagenfurt, the couple from Wolfsberg in Carinthia were told that their unborn offspring suffers from several very complex heart defects. "The problem with Elias is that the right ventricle has not developed, which means that a chamber that is important for the pulmonary circulation is missing. As a result, children like him need a series of operations," explains Julian Hochpöchler, the assistant doctor in charge at the Children's and Adolescent Hospital in Linz.

Using the virtual reality headset, the doctors can see every millimeter of the scanned heart and thus select the right measures.

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Eight-hour operation
"He also had a hole in the cardiac septum that separates the left and right ventricles, some vessels were not where they should be and others were not properly connected." All of this had to be repaired during the eight-hour first operation and he had to wait three months for the circulatory situation to stabilize.

Three-dimensional modeling
This complex operation was made possible by a CT scan and the resulting three-dimensional modeling of the newborn's heart. "We did the CT scan on his second day of life. A few days later, there was a meeting with the surgeons," reports David Kielmayer. "They were able to examine his heart very closely using VR goggles and determine exactly where the problems were!" The three-month-old also survived the second, four-hour procedure, during which the blood was redirected into the correct pathways, without any problems and was able to return home a week later.

The printed model made of hard plastic is used for demonstration and education purposes.

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

The VR model, on the other hand, allows a cross-section to be made at any point.

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Actual cause is unclear
"Infections, environmental factors and radiation may contribute to the development of heart defects," explains senior physician Jürgen Steiner. However, the actual cause is unknown. DNA analyses were also inconclusive.

We were terrified before the second operation. But we are infinitely happy and grateful to know that Elias is in the best hands!

Bianca Wechselberger und Steven Hollauf, Eltern von Elias

After the third and final operation at the age of three, Elias will be limited in his maximum performance, but not at all in his everyday life.

"The worst time for us was before the second operation: we have now known each other for three months and he is very fixated on us. We were terrified as soon as we drove up," the parents describe. "But everything worked out perfectly and we are so happy and grateful to know that Elias is in the best hands!"