In Haryana, doctors save life of newborn with ruptured lung

Karnal, May 19

After efforts of 18 days, doctors of the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College (KCGMC), here, successfully saved the life to a newborn baby girl by repairing her lung which was ruptured twice.

A two day, premature, 2.3kg baby girl was admitted on April 28 with severe breathing difficulty in the neonatal ICU of the Kalpana Chawla Government Medical College.

The baby was put on elective ventilation in the NICU, on the day of birth. However, despite being on the ventilator, the child’s condition began deteriorating in the night of April 29, considering the emergency, Dr Ashish Marwah, professor and in-charge, NICU, and the team examined the patient with cold light system and identified right side tension pneumothorax pushing heart and mediastinum to the other side.

Immediately, a right side chest tube was inserted and pneumothorax drained out. During the course of stay in the NICU, the child developed pneumothorax again for which again the chest tube was reinserted; the baby also had various other complications such as sepsis, reduced platelets and signs of congestive heart failure, said Dr Marwah. Despite these, the team of doctors and nursing officers at the NICU did not lose heart and persistant efforts led to the child being weaned off the ventilator and oxygen and discharged from hospital to go home on May 14 in a healthy condition after 18 days.

The parents were given best wishes and follow up advice for the neonatal follow-up every Saturday.

Dr Marwah informed that tension pneumothorax in newborn babies was a life-threatening condition and if not identified early could lead to death within minutes. Hence, early detection and drainage of the condition with the help of cold light system and radiography is required.