First ectopiacordis surgery

South Korea's medical team has successfully performed a surgery on Indonesian boy with Ectopiacordis for the first time in the world. Michael, a seven-year-old boy from Indonesia, has an adult fist-size heart beating outside of his body in a skin pouch.

He has a congenital heart disease called ectopiacordis. Most of the babies with this rare disease are either born dead or cannot survive for more than three days. But Michael has made it to his seventh birthday thanks to the utmost care of his parents.

The boy's heart was sticking out more than expected and it was almost touching his stomach. It was very serious. But there was no room for the heart inside the boy's chest. Both his lungs and heart could have been damaged if forcibly pushed in.

The doctors did not give up and decided to insert his heart in his abdomen instead. They moved the abdominal organs aside and used an artificial diaphragm to make room for the heart before inserting it. The surgery turned out to be a huge success. The heart, which used to dangle outside Michael's body, is no longer protruding. It's the world's first successful surgery on a child with ectopiacordis.