Baby Born With Rare Defect Battles For Life At Cuttack Hospital

Cuttack: A special team of doctors here was trying to save a baby who was born with a rare deformity of having the intestines and liver outside body.

The newborn is undergoing treatment at Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Post Graduate Institute of Paediatrics, popularly known as Sishu Bhawan, in Cuttack.

According to reports, Sujata Gouda, a resident of Kulada village in Ganjam district, had delivered the boy at MKCG Medical College and Hospital in Berhampur on Saturday.

The doctors referred the newborn to SCB Medical College and Hospital in Cuttack after its health condition deteriorated. Later, the baby was shifted to Sishu Bhawan.

As the intestines have come out of the stomach, the possibility remains high to get infected. If not being given medicines in time, the life of newborn will be at a greater risk, said a senior doctor in Sishu Bhawan.

Rare Defect

The medical term for the rare case is ‘Omphalocele’, which is a birth defect of the abdominal wall. In such a case, the infant’s intestines, liver or other organs are found outside the body at birth.

The Cause

According to paediatricians, some babies are born with omphalocele due to a change in their genes or chromosomes during the mother’s pregnancy. It is caused by a combination of genes and other factors such as the things the mother comes in contact with in an environment or foods or certain medicines she uses during pregnancy.

The Cure

A baby with omphalocele could be saved by putting back the intestines and liver inside the belly through surgery. If the omphalocele is large, the repair might be done in phases. The exposed organs might be covered with a special material and over the time, the organs will be moved back into the belly and the opening will be closed slowly.