Baby born again after being taken out for crucial surgery
UNITED STATES: When Lynlee Hope came squealing into the world this summer, a doctor proclaimed her ‘‘so cute’’ as she had her weight recorded at Texas Children’s Hospital. It was a momentous occasion.
Yet it was not strictly speaking, Lynlee’s first appearance. She had been born once before, emerging briefly into the world 23 weeks and five days after she was conceived, to allow doctors to remove a tumor growing at the base of her spine.
There were other traumas too: her heart had stopped briefly and a twin died early in the pregnancy. By the time she was born Lynlee had already been through the mill.
The first sign of trouble came in a routine scan at 16 weeks. ‘‘The doctor told us there was something seriously wrong,’’ Margaret Boemer said. Her unborn child had a rare tumour that was diverting some of the baby’s blood supply and risked causing heart failure as it grew larger.
Boemer was advised to terminate the pregnancy but at Texas Children’s Foetal Centre she was told of a surgery that might save the infant’s life.
She went into surgery after the foetus showed signs of heart failure. During the five-hour surgery the baby emerged, feet first, until all but her head was outside the womb. Her heart slowed virtually to a stop as the operation proceeded and a specialist on the surgical team intervened and got the heart beating regularly again.
A video of the procedure shows the tumour, which was nearly as large as the baby. After it was removed and placed in a receptacle it appears as large as a grapefruit.
The paediatric surgeons leading the operation, Darrell Cass and Oluyinka Olutoye, said the most complex part of the surgery was opening the womb to allow for the tumour to be removed.
Cass told a local TV station that the tumour was so large that it could be removed only by taking most of the baby out of her mother’s womb. The infant was ‘‘hanging in the air’’, he said.
Afterwards, the uterus was sewn shut. The video shows a surgeon tucking in a foot that was stuck out.
They removed most of the tumour, which began to grow again as the baby developed. Eight days after she was born again, she went back into surgery to have the rest of the tumour removed.
Boemer said Lynlee would have therapy until she went to college because her foot had been pushed into an outward position in the womb by the tumour.
‘‘We’re hoping and praying that she continues to do well,’’ she said. - The Times
Vatican to mediate talks
Venezuela’s socialist government and opposition have announced surprise talks to deal with a worsening political standoff since the suspension of a referendum drive to remove unpopular President Nicolas Maduro. The two sides will meet on the Caribbean island of Margarita on Sunday, mediated by the Vatican, regional bloc Unasur and three former heads of state, after Maduro met with Pope Francis, who urged him to alleviate Venezuelans’ suffering during a brutal economic crisis. Past talks between the bitterly polarised sides have led to little progress. The opposition says Maduro is an inept autocrat who must leave office. The opposition is calling for nationwide protests tomorrow.
Four die at theme park
Four people died after an accident at Dreamworld on Australia’s Gold Coast yesterday, becoming trapped on a conveyor belt after a raft they were in flipped on the Thunder River Rapids ride. Six people were in the raft at the time of the accident yesterday afternoon, and police confirmed that four adults died. The theme park said it was working as quickly as possible to establish the facts around the incident.
Nurse’s Ebola lawsuit settled
A Texas nurse settled her lawsuit yesterday against the owner of the Dallas hospital where she contracted Ebola while caring for the first person in the United States diagnosed with the deadly disease. The deal was signed exactly two years after Nina Pham was declared Ebola-free, although she still has health problems possibly related to the disease and experimental treatments. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. Pham, an intensive care nurse at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, claimed in the lawsuit that Texas Health Resources did not properly train and protect its staff to care for Thomas Eric Duncan, a Liberian man who died in October 2014. Pham has expressed concerned about paying for health care for the rest of her life because so little is known about the longterm effects of Ebola and the treatments used to save her life.