NEW DELHI: A 50-day-old infant, weighing barely 2.5 kilograms and no bigger than the size of a palm, has undergone a life-saving minimally invasive lung surgery at AIIMS, Delhi, in what doctors described as one of the rarest and most delicate procedures attempted on such a young child in the country.
The baby was suffering from Congenital Pulmonary Airway Malformation (CPAM), a condition where a part of the lung develops abnormally, impairing normal breathing. In this case, the malformation was unusually large and had occupied the right side of the chest, pressing against the left lung and leaving the child gasping for breath. By the time he reached AIIMS, his condition had deteriorated so severely that he had to be put on ventilator support.
Open chest surgery was ruled out because of his fragile state. Instead, surgeons opted for a thoracoscopic, or keyhole, approach—an advanced technique where surgical instruments as small as 3 to 5 millimetres are inserted into the chest along with a miniature camera. Through an incision just about a centimetre wide, doctors were able to remove the diseased portion of the lung.
The operation was fraught with risk. At one point during the procedure, the infant’s oxygen levels dropped dangerously low, demanding instant intervention and precise coordination between the surgical and anaesthesia teams.
“Operating on a 50-day-old infant weighing only 2.5 kilograms truly pushes the boundaries of what is possible with minimally invasive surgery. It was the coordinated effort of the surgical team and the anesthesia team, along with the state-of-the-art facility and trained manpower at AIIMS, New Delhi, that made this success possible,” said Dr Vishesh Jain, Professor in the Department of Pediatric Surgery at AIIMS.
Doctors believe this may be the youngest and smallest child in the country to have undergone such a complex thoracoscopic lung procedure. They said the surgery not only avoided the trauma of a large incision but also gave the child a far greater chance of recovery.