Surgery saves baby born with defective food pipe

NEW DELHI: Hooked to an oxygen cylinder, this 20-day-old baby braved a 19-hour train journey from Madhubani, Bihar, to Delhi. Apoorv was born with a rare congenital defect wherein his oesophagus (food pipe) and trachea (windpipe) were connected. Due to this, Apoorv would nearly choke every time he was fed.
With doctors in Patna unable to diagnose the problem, Apoorv’s parents decided to get their firstborn treated in Delhi.“As he was refusing feeds, his condition deteriorated. Doctors in Patna couldn’t diagnose the problem. By the time we decided to bring him to Delhi, his condition had deteriorated. He was put on oxygen support and intravenous glucose,” Maithili, Apoorv’s mother, said.
Doctors at Max Healthcare, where he underwent a surgery, say that Apoorv was suffering from a rare congenital disorder. “This is an uncommon congenital defect usually seen in one in 3,000-4,000 newborns. Normally, such patients are diagnosed within the first 1-2 days of life and need emergency surgery. But, in Apoorv’s case, it went undetected for almost 20 days,” Dr Anurag Krishna, director, paediatric surgery, said.
The disorder is called tracheo-oesophageal fistula. In this, Dr Krishna said, there is abnormal connection between the food pipe and windpipe. “In Apoorv’s case, the upper part of the food pipe had a blind ending while the lower part was connected to the respiratory tract. Since the food pipe was not in continuity, any feed that the baby was taking in was not going to the stomach,” said Dr Krishna.
In a 90-minute long surgery, doctors disconnected the oesophagus and trachea at both ends. Doctors say that babies usually don’t survive long if the problem is not diagnosed within days of birth. Apoorv, doctors say, is lucky as he not only survived the medical condition for 20 days but didn’t develop any infection. “The baby has started taking oral feeds. When he was brought to the hospital he weighed 2.9kg, but his health is improving now,” Dr Krishna said.