CHENNAI: The medical team of Apollo Children’s Hospitals saved a pre-term baby boy, born in November 2018, from life-threatening health complications. Baby Nethran was diagnosed with a hole in the heart followed by sepsis, recurrent lung collapses, rare cancerous tumour in the liver and abnormal fusion of his skull bones.
Dr Latha Kanchi Parthasarathy, consultant neonatologist, Apollo Children’s Hospitals, and her team revived Nethran’s care through an eight-month battle. Nethran underwent a series of procedures and chemotherapy throughout his treatment period.
He was kept in the ventilator as his lungs were still in the development stage and he had a hole in his heart. His lungs were delicate and kept collapsing repeatedly. His first sepsis attack was curtailed with antibiotics. A routine ultrasound revealed an abnormal mass in the liver, which kept enlarging during the course of the treatment. On further investigation, a CT scan showed the possibility of a malignant tumour or a benign vascular mass, which turned out to be a Hepatablastoma (a rare cancerous tumour) post-biopsy.
“To fight this, we started chemotherapy, as we aimed to shrink the tumour before the liver surgery. Unfortunately, the congenital hole in the heart was causing additional problems. Too much blood entering the heart was flowing into the lungs through the hole, increasing the pressure to dangerous levels. We had to interrupt the chemotherapy, and the child had to undergo open-heart surgery. Post-surgery, the lungs were still fragile and were continuously collapsing. To worsen the situation, he developed sepsis again, which put him in a life-threatening situation,” said Dr Latha, adding that the baby did not give up, which motivated the team.
Nethran’s last cycle of chemotherapy was completed on July 4 and ever since there have been positive results and was discharged.