Rare surgery saves life of Ghaziabad newborn with digestive tract defect

Ghaziabad: Doctors at a city-based hospital have performed a rare paediatric surgery in the city to the save the life of a newborn baby with a life-threatening birth defect of the digestive tract.

Aayat, the baby boy, who was born at a private hospital in Sahibabad did not cry at birth. Additionally, he was facing a critical breathing problem immediately after birth and had to be shifted to a neonatal intensive care unit (NICU). The attempts at feeding the baby using a plastic feeding tube also failed and the condition of the newborn become highly unstable.

His parents approached doctors at the Columbia Asia Hospitals, Ghaziabad who immediately conducted a complex but necessary surgical intervention to save the life of the baby. "Aayat was suffering from an abnormality of the oesophagus, known as esophageal atresia. This is a complex birth defect, which interrupts the formation of the esophageal tube in newborns.

"This is the reason why he could not swallow or intake nutrients via the feeding tube as the alimentary canal gets blocked. The condition could lead to aspirational pneumonia and threaten the child's life if medical attention is not
given on time," Dr Rajeev Aggarwal, Paediatric Surgeon at Columbia Asia Hospitals explained.

In Aayat's case, both the upper and lower segments of the oesophagus ended abruptly in pouches which complicated the issue further and lead to acute respiratory distress. The surgery was conducted on February 14. "Given the low birth weight and the highly unstable condition of the baby during the course of treatment, this surgery was highly sensitive," Dr Aggarwal said.

The entire surgery, which lasted for a few hours, was followed by careful medical assessment by a team of paediatricians headed by Dr Sanjay Sharma. The surgical procedure corrected the birth defect to pave the way for a normal anatomy in the baby. "Most neonates who undergo surgical repair for esophageal
dysmotilities are at high risk and can even lead to mortality. However, it is also true that such surgeries should be done as soon as possible after birth, so that lungs are not damaged and the baby can be fed at the earliest," Dr Sanjay Sharma, paediatrician at the hospital said.

The baby was discharged from the hospital on the ninth day after the surgery in a stable condition. He is now able to breastfeed fully.