OPERATION ON BABY

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25581, 24 August 1948, Page 3

OPERATION ON BABY

first success in DOMINION ABNORMALITY IN WINDPIPE "The Press" Special Service NEW PLYMOUTH, August 22. Taranaki doctors describe as little short of miraculous a surgical operation performed at the New Plymouth Hospital on a five-days-old baby suffering from a rare congenital condition which, before the advent of penicillin and improved methods of anaesthesia. invariably proved fatal. It is the first time the operation has been successfully carried out in New Zealand. The condition was a congenital abnormality of the trachea (windpipe) a nd the oesophagus (gullet), which had failed to grow to the right proportions, and there was an opening between the trachea and the oesophagus. Because of the child’s condition, any food given through .the mouth could not reach the stomach, but eventually reached the lungs. Any attempt »o fed the child caused its face to turn black and gave rise to violent coughbaby is now able to take food naturally and is improving in health every day and putting on weight. For a time after the operation it was fed through an artificial opening to the stomach. Apart from the operation itself, the part of the anaesthetist in keeping the infant alive for the three and a half hours or more required for the operation was regarded as amazing. The fact that it had not been able to take any nourishment made conditions more difficult.

The size of the organs on which the surgeon had to work was minute and the operation was extremely difficult, but besides that the plastic surgery required to correct the abnormalities called for outstanding skill.