Tamil Nadu - Tirunelveli   

26-hour-old baby operated on

Staff Reporter

The baby could not drink milk and food entered respiratory passage

TIRUNELVELI: Two young doctors of Palayamkottai have successfully performed a highly delicate surgery on a 26-hour-old baby, which was suffering from a serious congenital disorder called ``Oesophageal atresia with tracheo oesophageal fistula'.

The baby of Uma Maheshwari of Thiyagaraja Nagar here was born on April 5 in a caesarean section performed by Dr. Maragathavalli.

It had an obstruction at the oesophagus (food passage), which was detected by Dr. Syed Ibrahim, a neonatalogist of Pushpalata Hospital, during a routine examination. Further investigations proved that the baby was suffering from a major congenital abnormality, `Oesophageal atresia with tracheo oesophageal fistula'.

The upper part of the oesophagus ends blindly and the lower part of it is attached to the trachea and hence the baby cannot drink milk and whatever food was given it entered the respiratory passage causing distress.

As it was decided to perform a surgery on the 26-hour-old baby, a team of doctors, N. Thirumani Pandian and Syed Ibrahim, both having a vast experience dealing with such cases in a hi-tech Saudi government hospital, and anaesthetist N. Parasakthi Rufus successfully did the surgery.

This challenging two-and-a-half hour surgery was done through the right side of the chest to divide the abnormal connection to the trachea and to close the tracheal end, which was then connected to the upper end of the closed oesophagus.

The baby was put on ventilator for five days.

"The baby is positively responding to the treatment.

Though this surgery is being performed in all well-equipped hospitals, the rate of survival after surgery is quite low. We successfully performed similar surgery in December, 2002 and our second attempt is also a hit," a visibly jubilant Dr. Thirumani and Dr. Ibrahim told The Hindu.

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