Karnataka - Mangalore   

Doctors perform rare surgery on infant

Special Correspondent

The child was suffering from a condition called `exomphalos major'

MANGALORE: A team of doctors from Yenepoya Medical College Hospital here have saved the life of an infant who was suffering from a condition known as "exomphalos major".

In this anomaly, there is a defect in the abdominal wall and the whole liver and half of the bowel loops are inside a flimsy sac protruding from the abdomen. The baby weighed 2.2 kg and had associated cardiovascular anomalies.

The mortality of such a case, according to the doctors was 70 to 80 per cent. However, a team of doctors led by Jude Joseph paediatric surgeon, Padmanabha and Hemanth took up the challenge and successfully performed the operation. During the surgery, the contents were reduced into the proper abdominal cavity and "primary closure" of the defect was achieved. Dr. Joseph said the baby did not require any postoperative ventilatory care. In another case handled by the same team of doctors a 3-day-old infant was operated on for obstruction in the distal part of stomach.

This surgery was more complicated particularly since the baby weighed only 800 gram. According to the doctors, both babies were doing well and were out of danger.

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