Boy becomes first child in UK to undergo life-saving heart failure procedure
Related: Doctors can now detect heart failure by scanning this other body part
Elliot Atkins became the first child in the UK to undergo an angioplasty for heart failure, a procedure typically reserved for adults.
Diagnosed at 11 months old with heart failure and the rare middle aortic syndrome, his condition was initially deemed too risky for major surgery.
Medics at Great Ormond Street Hospital (Gosh) performed a series of angioplasties to widen his blood vessels, which reversed his heart failure and strengthened him for further treatment.
These interventions enabled Elliot to receive a complex aortic bypass graft and a kidney transplant last July, which he would not have survived without the angioplasties.
Now aged seven, Elliot is thriving, running around with friends, and preparing for school sports day, with Gosh having since applied this pioneering treatment to other children.
