Doctors at Government Mohan Kumaramangalam Medical College Hospital here have performed a complicated surgery and rescued a female newborn who was suffering from a rare congenital defect that caused breathlessness.
A team led by Paediatric Surgeon Ravindran performed the minimally invasive thoracoscopy repair on the child, born to to Nagarajan and Haripriya, both daily wagers, on November 13.
“At birth, the child suffered from breathlessness and and a X-ray revealed that most of the intestinal loops from the abdomen pushed into the left side of chest through a defect in the left side of the diaphragm that separated the chest from the abdomen”, said R. Balajinathan, Dean of the hospital.
The child was suffering from congenital diaphragmatic hernia, a rare defect at birth that occured in 1 in 4,000 live births. “Had it not been diagnosed immediately diagnosed and treated, the child would have died in two days as the lung and heart functions were affected.
in the surgery done on November 24, the intestinal loops were brought down into the abdominal cavity and the defect in the diaphragm was closed. This enabled the lungs and heart to function normally, he said.
The baby was put on ventilator support for two days after the surgery. It had recovered and was being breast-fed. There was no breathlessness at present. The thoracoscopy repair treatment was opted as it was less invasive and there would not be any visible signs of surgery as the child grows. The child was fit to go home now, the Dean said.
Dr. Balajinathan said the hospital had conducted five such surgeries this year under the Chief Minister’s Comprehensive Insurance Scheme. In a private hospital, the surgery would have cost up to ₹ 2 lakh.
