Doctors at the Department of Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) in Government Rajaji Hospital here have successfully operated a female newborn with bilateral choanal atresia, which is a congenital disorder referring to the complete blockage of the posterior side of the nasal passage.
According to the doctors, the child born in the first week of June at the hospital to a couple from Villapuram had respiratory distress and was diagnosed with bilateral choanal atresia.
N. Dinakaran, Head of the Department of ENT, said that while unilateral choanal atresia, where the blockage was in one of the nostrils, was observed among one in a few thousand children, instances of the disorder being bilateral, in which the blockages are in both the nostrils, were very rare.
Pointing out that the child would have at least one nostril to breathe if the disorder was unilateral, he said that bilateral choanal atresia on the other hand could be life-threatening since the child cannot breathe through the nose.
“It is difficult for newborns to breathe through mouth. Moreover, even if they breathe through mouth, it will become riskier during feeding,” he said.
The doctors said that in this case the newborn was immediately shifted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and was kept alive with the support of intravenous fluids and oral airway.
Later, the child underwent CT and MRI scans, following which a surgery was performed when the baby was 24-days-old. As part of the surgery, the doctors repaired the blockage and a stent was temporarily fixed in the passage. Two weeks later, the stent was removed, doctors said, adding that subsequent examinations showed the choana to be free of blockage.
Foreign bodies removed
Similarly, doctors at the ENT department highlighted that two other endoscopic procedures were done for children to remove the objects they accidentally swallowed.
In one of the cases, a battery used for toys, stuck near the respiratory tract of a two-year-old boy, was removed. In another case, the doctors removed a portion of a polythene bag, stuck in the left main bronchus of a 14-year-old boy.
The team of doctors were appreciated by Dean (in-charge) D. Marudupandian.
