An Iraqi boy's racing heart slows in Delhi

DOCTORS SAVE 7-YEAR-OLD, WHOSE HEART BEAT 200 TIMES A MINUTE

- BY STEPHEN N. R.

When little Ali (name changed), a 7-year-old boy from Iraq, arrived in New Delhi, his tiny heart was beating nearly 200 times a minute twice as fast as it should.

Every breath left him exhausted, every day weighed down by a heart rhythm disorder that doctors in his country could not safely treat.

For years, the child lived on heavy medication that dulled his energy, but never eased his condition. He was born with an abnormal electrical circuit in his heart, ANI reported.

Ali's pulse often spiked between 170 and 200 beats per minute dangerously above the normal range for children. At only 26 kilos, his frail frame made any surgical procedure extremely risky.

Doctors take on challenge