Rare surgery performed on two-mth-old baby at AIIMS

Jodhpur: In a rare surgical feat, doctors of AIIMS here performed laparoscopy on a two months old infant who was suffering from Hypertrophic Pyloric Stenosis (HPS), a disease in which a child suffers from narrowing of the lower part of the stomach (Pylorus), thereby preventing the consumed milk from going into the stomach.
The infant Divya Prata was born on December 19 last year but within 15 days he started throwing milk out.After consulting doctors at different places, the parents finally landed in AIIMS on Monday and after being diagnosed with HPS, the doctors performed surgery on the child on Tuesday itself.
According to Arvind Sinha, HoD of paediatric department, this laparoscopic surgery was a very complex one considering the age of the child. "Since the space to operate the laparoscope in the body of an infant was very less compared to an elder one, we had to maintain a high degree of caution and precision simultaneously," said Sinha.
In this case, the complication was caused by the inability of the mother to breastfeed the infant, he was given bottled milk, which caused a blockage between his stomach and intestines.
In such a condition if the infant is given milk, it would come out affecting the growth of the infant. According to the paediatrists, HPS affects 20% infants who are given bottled milk and the symptoms surface within 3-5 weeks of birth, which can only be cured by surgery. Study shows that 3 children per 1,000 suffer from HPS.