Kolkata: A four-day old boy, born with omphalocele, a congenital condition in which abdominal organs, such as the intestines, develop outside the abdominal cavity, was airlifted from Agartala to Kolkata, where doctors performed an emergency surgery to save him.After 10 days of hospital care, the boy returned home with parents Anup and Ananya Dey two days ago. Doctors said if detected during pregnancy, most obstetricians recommend termination due to the rarity and complexity of the condition and the challenges involved in treatment.In this case the condition was not detected by antenatal anomaly scans. Born with his intestines protruding outside the abdominal cavity, doctors in Agartala referred the Deys to Subhasis Saha, clinical lead-paediatric surgery and paediatric urology at Manipal Hospital Mukundapur.The first task of the multidisciplinary team, under the joint supervision of Saha and neonatologist Atanu Kumar Jana, was to stabilise the newborn’s condition and assess the condition of the exposed intestinal loops. Prolonged exposure of the bowel can lead to swelling and oedema, which may make it difficult to return the organs to the abdominal cavity and, in some cases, necessitate a staged surgical approach. “Omphalocele requires careful evaluation of the size of the defect, the condition of the exposed bowel and the overall clinical status of the newborn. Ideally, babies with this condition should be referred to a specialised centre with neonatal surgical and intensive care facilities at the earliest. The baby’s intestinal loops were still sufficiently healthy, allowing us to complete repairing the defect in a single operation,” said Saha.“Following surgery, the focus shifts to supporting lung recovery, and providing adequate nutrition, while closely monitoring for infections and other complications. The postoperative recovery has been satisfactory, and the absence of any significant associated organ abnormality has also supported the baby’s favourable progress,” said Jana.The young couple flew back to their native place on Monday with their child.
