Ahmedabad: Newborn with rare nasal defect treated successfully at Civil Hospital

Gandhinagar: A newborn girl with a life-threatening rare congenital defect diagnosed as bilateral choanal atresia was successfully operated upon at the Civil Hospital to restore her breathing mechanism, the state govt said on Friday.

An official statement said the infant was born through normal delivery on May 1 in Naliya town of Kutch district to the family of a labourer. The baby weighed 2kg at birth and developed severe breathing difficulties immediately after delivery. She was initially treated at local hospitals before being referred to Bhuj, where she received six days of treatment.

The statement said that the baby was shifted to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital, where doctors diagnosed her with bilateral choanal atresia, a rare congenital condition in which both nasal passages are blocked from the back, preventing a newborn from breathing through the nose.

Quoting Dr Rakesh Joshi, head of paediatric surgery department, the statement said, “During examination, a Ryle’s tube could not be passed through the nose, which raised suspicion of a blockage. A CT scan-PNS (Paranasal Sinuses) later confirmed bilateral choanal atresia.”

Doctors decided to perform an endoscopic transnasal choanoplasty surgery on May 12. “In this highly delicate surgery, the blocked nasal passage was cleared and the breathing pathway was completely opened,” said Dr Joshi, who added that the baby is now breathing normally through the nose.

State health minister Praful Pansheriya said the successful treatment highlighted the capability of Gujarat’s govt-run civil hospitals to provide advanced treatment free of cost to economically weaker patients.