Mangala Hospital doctors perform rare surgery on new born to correct congenital defect

Mangalore Today News Network

Mangalore, Sept. 5, 2013:  A team of doctors from the Mangala Hospital in Mangalore have successfully operated upon a one and a half day old baby which was suffering from a congenital defect called bilateral choanal artresia. The doctors performed a trans nasal endoscopic surgery to correct the defect. The team of physicians led by Dr Gautham Kulamarva, ENT surgeon comprised  Dr Murli Keshava, neonatologist and Dr Ganapathi, anaesthesiologist.

 

Dr Kulamarva said the child was suffering as the communication between the nose and the  throat was blocked due to an unnatural bone in the back of the nose making it difficult for the child to breathe. Such condition is rare and  is less than one in 20,000 to 30,000 births, Dr Kulamarva said. He also added that  perhaps this is the first of such a surgery on a baby in India while only three to four such surgeries have been performed across the world so far.

He said the baby was responding well  after surgery and has started feeding on mother’s milk. The mother and child have been discharged from hospital, he informed.