Saving the life of a newborn with severe congenital heart disease.

SKĐS - A 20-day-old baby girl, weighing 3.1 kg, suffering from severe pneumonia, sepsis, and heart failure due to a large patent ductus arteriosus, was saved by doctors at Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital through timely surgery.

On December 3rd, Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital announced that doctors had successfully performed surgery to save the life of LTBN (residing in Yen Son commune, Nghe An province), a child with severe congenital heart disease and multiple other dangerous medical conditions. This was an exceptionally critical case, requiring intensive resuscitation, interdisciplinary consultation, and emergency surgery.

Saving the life of a newborn with severe congenital heart disease.

Upon birth at Do Luong General Hospital, baby N. was cyanotic and had difficulty breathing. After initial assessment, doctors suspected neonatal pneumonia and respiratory failure, so they transferred the child to Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital. There, the patient was admitted in critical condition: severe pneumonia, sepsis, requiring mechanical ventilation, and with a very poor prognosis.

Despite intensive treatment for over 20 days, the baby's condition did not improve. An echocardiogram revealed that the child had a large patent ductus arteriosus, causing abnormal blood flow, dilation of the heart chambers, and leading to severe heart failure. An interdisciplinary consultation concluded that immediate surgery to ligate the ductus arteriosus was necessary to save the child's life.

The biggest challenge was that the child was too small, underweight, and completely dependent on a ventilator. The family was facing financial difficulties, so the hospital, in coordination with the Social Work Department, appealed for support from philanthropists to ensure the surgery could be performed on time.

The surgery was performed safely, and the intervention team successfully addressed the patent ductus arteriosus, stabilizing hemodynamics and eliminating the risk of rupture and acute heart failure – situations that could claim a child's life in an instant. Post-operatively, the child continued to receive resuscitation, infection control, and close monitoring hourly.

Positive changes appeared day by day: the lungs ventilated better, the heart functioned more stably, and the baby was breathing and feeding again on its own. After more than a month of treatment, the baby was discharged at 53 days old, much to the emotion of the family and the medical team who treated her.

The journey of baby N.'s recovery is a beautiful story about medical ethics, the dedication of the medical team, and the collective efforts of the community – factors that have given a chance of survival to a baby born on the fragile boundary between life and death.

Source: https://suckhoedoisong.vn/cuu-song-be-so-sinh-mac-tim-bam-sinh-nang-169251203161454399.htm