Kolkata: Doctors in the city turned out to be saviours for a newborn, who was diagnosed with a critical condition in the mother’s womb.At Narayana Hospital Howrah, they performed a life-saving procedure that was rare as well as challenging to let the infant see the light of the world.The foetus was suffering from a medical condition, Hydrops Fetalis, in which it had developed a fluid build-up in her chest and abdomen. Doctors were of the opinion that had they taken the foetus out of the mother’s womb through C-section without having treated this condition, the infant would have collapsed due to lung failure.The doctors had performed the procedure called Ex-Utero Intrapartum Treatment. In this rare procedure, the baby was delivered only partially through a C-section and still drawing life through her mother’s placenta.The team of specialists raced through a 40-minute operation to save her life. While suspended between two worlds, they inserted three delicate tubes into her small frame—draining the fluid suffocating her vital organs and establishing a critical airway for assisted breathing. Only when her lifeline was fully secured was she finally brought into the world.After one month of post-operative care in the intensive care and several follow-up post discharge the little girl is thriving and doctors said she will grow up as a normal child.The mother is a 24-year-old homemaker. Her husband, who originally hails from Howrah, is posted in Nagaland. Due to the medical findings, the couple travelled back home in Howrah early for thorough evaluation.She underwent a thorough evaluation at Narayan Hospital Howrah to rule out structural, genetic abnormalities and in-utero (in the womb /uterus) infections in the baby.The couple was explained about the condition, need for close surveillance for the baby’s health and the possibility of worsening of the fluid collection during ongoing pregnancy. In her 31st week of pregnancy, she went into preterm labour with a sudden increase in fluid around the baby.She was started on medications to prevent preterm labour to buy time for medications for the baby to ensure lung maturation and neuroprotection in view of preterm delivery.In view of the rarity of the problem, the hospital drew up a team of specialists, which included doctors Sumana Datta, gynaecologist and obstetrician, Akhileshwar Narayan Chowdhury paediatrician and neonatologist, Goutam Chakraborty, paediatric and neonatal surgeon and Rashmi Shahi, anaesthesiologist.The team decided to conduct an emergency C-section along with the procedure as the baby would not be able to breathe normally after birth.“Basically, we operate on newborns after completion of the delivery. But in this case we would have lost the baby if we waited for completion of delivery,” said Goutam Chakraborty, paediatric and neonatal surgeon.
