WOMAN UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL “BLUE BABY” OPERATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 August 1950, Page 2

WOMAN UNDERGOES SUCCESSFUL “BLUE BABY” OPERATION

AUCKLAND, August 13 (P.A.)— Two Auckland’ surgeons and an assistant have added to New Zealand’s laurels in “blue baby” surgery by successfully operating on a 37-year-old woman at the Greenlane Hospital. She is among the oldest known patients who have undergone this operation successfully. Surgeons prefer to operate on “blue baby” patients at about the aged of six. A number of cases have been taken in Auckland at an earlier age because the expert opinion of the cardio-surgical clinic considered that any delay would be detrimental to the child and they have been successful. It is not usual for true “blue babies,” that is, sufferers from narrowing of the outlet from the heart to the main arteries supplying the lungs to live beyond the early 20’s. The 37-year-old woman who recently entered the Greenlane Hospital had suffered from the condition since birth and had probably reached her age because she had led a very sheltered life. In fact, her condition prevented her from* doing otherwise. It was stated this evening that the surgeons’ work was made possible only by the “high standard of skilful anaesthesia.”