Preterm baby with hole in heart treated in city hospital

Gayatri, a resident of Tambaram, delivered a pre-term baby, Nethran, on November 9, 2018. However, the infant was diagnosed with a hole in the heart and was put on ventilator support. As his lungs were delicate and still in the development stage, it collapsed repeatedly.

The child also developed sepsis attack which was controlled with antibiotics and a routine ultrasound also revealed an abnormal mass in the liver. On further investigation, it was found to be a cancerous tumour.

Dr Latha Kanchi Parthasarathy, consultant neonatologist at Apollo Children’s Hospitals, supervised a series of procedures and chemotherapy on the child.

“We started chemotherapy on the child to shrink the tumour before liver surgery. Unfortunately, the congenital hole in the heart was causing additional problems. The blood entering the heart was flowing too much into the lungs through the hole, increasing the pressure to dangerous levels. We had to interrupt the chemotherapy, and the child had to immediately undergo open-heart surgery. However, the lungs were still very fragile and were continually collapsing,” said Latha.

During the surgical procedures, doctors removed the right lobe of his liver along with the tumour and treatments gave a very positive improvement in the baby’s condition. The skull of the child started fusing prematurely, increasing the pressure within the brain. To cure this, doctors performed a cranial surgery and the last cycle of chemotherapy was completed on July 4, 2019. After seeing positive results, the baby was discharged recently.