Newborn gets life-saving surgery in Vizag hospital

VISAKHAPATNAM: A keyhole surgery was performed to correct a congenital defect in an underweight three-day-old male infant at a private hospital in the city.
The 1.7 kg baby was born with a condition called 'esophageal atresia with trachea esophageal fistula', which is the absence of food pipe (esophagus) and abnormal connection between the upper esophagus and wind pipe (trachea).
According to pediatricians, usually one in 5,000 newborns suffer from this birth defect and need to be operated upon within 5-7 days because they die as they are unable to feed and breathe normally.
A team of doctors comprising Dr M Srinivasa Rao, Dr K Seshagiri, Dr K Radhakrishna, Dr Vijaykanth and other specialists successfully operated on the baby in what they claim is the first-of-its-kind laparoscopic surgery to be performed on an underweight newborn in AP.
"The baby, born to one Sree Devi in Rajam, Vizianagaram, was brought to us with feeding and swallowing difficulty and respiratory distress. Routine diagnosis showed that tubes couldn't be passed to the stomach as his food pipe, which carries food from the mouth to the stomach, wasn't developed. Since, the baby was grossly underweight, surgery by opening the chest was more risky. After stabilizing the baby, we opted for a laparoscopic procedure," said Dr M Srinivas Rao, chief pediatric and laparoscopic surgeon, Omni R K Hospital.
"We recreated a tube using the tissues inside and joined the upper and lower end of the esophagus. Since the upper esophagus was affecting the passage of air through the trachea (trachea esophageal fistula), we rectified that defect as well," he added.
The baby was operated upon in the first week of July in a surgery that lasted for three hours. Post surgery, the baby was put on ventilator for three days and started taking oral feed after 20 days of the surgery. Till then, he was fed by tubes for three weeks. "Since the last two weeks, he is being breast-fed and now weighs 2.6 kg," added the pediatrician.