Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital successfully saves limb of a new born baby girl
10 April 2023: Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, the multispecialty tertiary care hospital successfully saved the limb of a new born baby girl who was born with a swollen right leg deformed & nearly detached from the rest of her body.
Riya (name changed) was born in a rural part of Osmanabad, Maharashtra. The baby was delivered in a government hospital. It was a pre-mature delivery where the baby girl was born underweight with amniotic band syndrome (where amniotic cord tightens across the child’s body part which leads to auto amputation) of right leg which was swollen, deformed & nearly detached from the rest of her body, hanging with a small lining of skin. At the hospital the doctors counselled about risk of life due to prematurity & probable amputation of right leg. This news had devastated the family and decided to shift the baby to an advance healthcare facility in Mumbai or Pune. Being an army officer, the father chose Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, Pune as he had previous experience of a successful care and recovery.
The baby was received at Aditya Birla Memorial hospital when she was 9 days old. The toxic liquid from the limb was affecting baby’s health. She was severely dehydrated, suffering from high grade fever & respiratory distress. Being only 9 days old and underweight the baby needed aggressive resuscitation and stabilisation before any surgery could be planned. Dr. Hemant Patil, Neonatologist, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital took up the challenge and brought the baby out of septicaemia. Once she was stabilised, panel of doctors including Neonatologist, plastic surgeon, Orthopaedic surgeon, Physician and others discussed the complications of the case as the objective was to try and save both the limb and the life of the baby. The family was then consulted and informed that the team of doctors would like to try microvascular surgery which would increase the chance of saving the baby’s limb. The family allowed the doctors. The first challenge at hand was to remove the constricting band and liquid from the leg. Hence the plastic surgery team of Dr. Somnath Karad &Dr. Vikram R Wagh, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital performed a complicated limb salvage surgery and made multiple rotation advancement flaps to drain the accumulated fluid in the leg. The limb started reducing on post operation day 2 and nearly reached its normal size by day 7. Post-operation, the limb survived and it started growing similar to the other limb.
“One more surgery of bone restructuring is needed which will be done by Dr. Shrirang Kulkarni so the limb can take body weight and become stable. This will be done in near future. This will further ensure normal gait and walking for the baby. The baby is absolutely healthy and has been discharged. It’s a great success as this is a rare case of Type III Amniotic band syndrome where generally babies with cord tightened around the limbs are born with auto amputation of mutilated body part. It’s important that there is awareness amongst parents that amputation is not the only solution and the limb can be saved if timely & correct treatment is provided”, shared Dr. Vikram Wagh, Plastic surgeon, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital.
“I am thankful to the doctors and entire medical team at Aditya Birla Hospital for saving my baby’s life and also her limb. All this was possible due to the ready facilities available at Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital to manage very low birth weight infants, Live neonatal care, body warmer & round the clock monitoring of doctors with specialist plastic surgeon & advance operating facilities. I can’t thank them enough”, shared Father of the baby girl.
