A team of neurosurgeons at the Institute of Medical Sciences and SUM Hospital here have successfully conducted a critical surgery to remove a rare tumor attached to the tailbone of a newborn baby, said hospital authorities on Friday.
The baby, born to a couple from the Khurda district, had a tumor that resembled a head with skin, ears and hair. The parents rushed the baby to the hospital.
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After the baby was examined by pediatricians, a team under the supervision of eminent neurosurgeon and SOA’s Principal Advisor (Health Science) Prof. Ashok Kumar Mahapatra decided to conduct the surgery.
The condition, known as sacrococcygeal teratoma in medical terminology, could prove life-threatening requiring immediate surgery for the removal of the tumor.
“It was a congenital defect and occurred within two to four weeks of conception. The tumor takes shape at one end of the neural tube which develops to be the brain and spinal cord. In this case, the tumor weighed about one kg.” Prof. Mahapatra said.
Prof. Soubhagya Panigrahi, professor in the neurosurgery department, said the surgery, conducted under the state government’s BSKY scheme, took nearly three hours. Prof. Ram Chandra Deo, another professor from the same department said that anesthetists and the team manning the neonatal ICU had a significant role in making the surgery successful.
