2 newborn babies came to Father Muller Medical College Hospital, Kankanady, seeking care. One was a preterm baby born at 30 weeks with a birth weight of 1kg 700 grams(1.7Kg), the other was a term baby with a birth weight of 2kg 600 grams (2.6Kg) both having a similar condition called ‘Myelmeningocoele’ which left alone can result in fatal outcomes.
Myelmeningocoele is a condition where the spinal cord has not lodged in the body but is exposed out on the skin of the back.
Both the babies were admitted into the modern NICU offered by the hospital. 4 teams of doctors came together to plan and execute the treatment thereby salvaging the infants. A through discussion with the parents resulted in them consenting for the full treatment. With the state of the art radiology machines (both Ct and MRI) complete anatomical defect was diagnosed in both the babies.
The doctors from Neurosurgery, Neonatology, Plastic surgery and Anaesthesiology offered a surgical line of treatment to put back the spinal cord into its place in the body.
Each of the babies went through a 7 hour surgery on the designated day to close the defect and reinstate the spinal cord into the normal site of the body. Post operatively both the children were closely observed and were managed successfully to their recovery.
Speaking to Dr Geover Lobo the Neurosurgeon who performed these rare surgeries successfully, he said ‘it was a challenge to make sure every stage of treatment and procedure went on well, accolades to his team, he was also thankful to the parents of the teams consisted of Dr Praveen and Dr Mario from Neonatology, Dr Balakrishna, Dr Vishma and Dr Ananth from Anaesthesiology and Dr Arvind Rao was the plastic surgeon.
The Director Fr Richard A Coelho and the Father Muller Medical College Administrator Fr Rudolph D’Sa congratulated the team for their efforts in saving and preserving life.
