Gurgaon, May 16 : Roona Begum, the 18-month-old baby from Tripura, underwent a life saving successful surgery for severe hydrocephalus, a rare disorder that caused her head to swell to nearly three times its size in Fortis Hospital here today.
Hydrocephalus is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the brain resulting in the growing of the patient's head.
On Wednesday a team of doctors at the Fortis Memorial Research Institute Hospital (FMRI) in Gurgaon carried out the life-saving surgery.
Sandeep Vaishya, the surgeon who conducted the operation, said it was a huge challenge to carry out the procedure as the head of the 18-month-old was one of the largest documented in the history of medicine.
Said Vaisya: “It is probably one of the biggest ever heads. The heads' circumference was 94-centimetre when the baby came to us.
“ There were a lot of challenges with this kind of head because there is no precedence of such a case being treated anywhere in the world.
“We had to be really, careful, as to how do we go about it. Apart from that the baby was severely malnutritioned and grossly underweight, activities were really low and she had a big sore at the back of her head which was infected. We had to tackle all those challenges,” Vaishya said.
The surgeon said the operation was successful and the baby was recuperating well.
“After draining the fluid, her activities have improved a lot. She is now thriving well, responding to music, responding to sound. She is trying to hold things. Even tried to pull her feeding tube out, infact, she pulled it out. Previously her movements were almost not there, so, she is doing well,” said Vaishya.
Baby Roona Begum, within weeks of her birth in a Tripura hospital, was diagnosed with this rare condition.
The doctors in Tripura had asked the family to travel to Delhi for specialised medical care and facility.
Roona's father Abdul Rahman, who is a kiln worker, was unable to afford the expensive treatment for the child's condition.
Meanwhile Fortis Hospital in Gurgaon came forward to help the distressed family.
The doctors spent nearly a month treating various ailments like chest infections and bed sores before putting her under the knife.
Her mother Fatema Begum said she was partially relieved after the surgery but was still concerned about some more procedures that would need to be conducted on her daughter in the coming days.
“As of now the surgery has been a success, there is no more major concern for us. But we are still worried till the time her head is completely fine,” said Fatema Begum
Experts say that if a hydrocephalus patient is left untreated, it inevitably deteriorates the health of the victim by putting excess pressure on the brain, which causes headaches, blurred vision and, eventually leads to permanent brain damage.
