A critical and rare operation was successfully conducted on a four months old baby boy at Aastha Mother and Child Care Hospital (AMCCH) at Rourkela and he was discharged from the hospital recently. The parents of the baby are extremely happy after the successful operation.
Pranati Bai, a resident of Rourkela, who had married to one Dusmant Gahana, a resident of Jajpur District, had given birth to a boy child four months ago at Cuttack. The baby boy, was born in Cuttack with antenatal diagnosed hydrocephalus. Hydrocephalus is a condition where there is obstruction to the flow and circulation of cerebrospinal fluid , a fluid that is secreted in the ventricles(spaces) in the brain and circulates in the brain and spinal cord. After delivery, the baby was shown to a neurosurgeon who advised surgery after one month of age. The baby first reported to Aastha Mother and Child Care Hospital here at 2 months of age when the head had grown abnormally large. He was immediately referred for urgent surgery at Cuttack. However due to the Covid pandemic surging at that time the surgery was denied at Cuttack.
They again reported to AMCCH at 4 months of age. By then the head had grown grotesquely larger. The head circumference was larger than the length which is rarely seen.
The attendants pleaded the doctors at AMCCH, to take up the case. The doctors at AMCCH, explained to them all the risks involved and even a fatal outcome during and after surgery.
After they consented, the doctors at AMCCH, decided to take up the challenge. The critical surgery was done on July 25, 2021 at AMCCH. In this surgery, a tube (shunt) was put from the ventricles in the brain to the space in the abdomen to divert the flow of the fluid which was causing pressure on the brain matter.
Though the surgery had been done earlier in AMCCH, this baby being only 4 months weighing 5.0 kg with such a large head has rarely been done. It posed technical difficulties for the anaesthetist, Dr Arpit Kumar , the Paediatric surgeon , Dr J Kumar and the whole post op team.
" Since this critical operation was successfully conducted and the baby is fine now, we hope that baby may recover almost completely in times to come," said Paediatrician, AMCCH, Dr P Lall. Mother of baby Pranati Bai said, "We are all thankful to the hospital for conducting the critical operation successfully. "