Photo: Unsplash
Photo: Unsplash
A surgical procedure, the likes of which had never been seen before in South Africa, has saved the life of a newborn baby in Tygerberg, Cape Town. Six different medical teams were required to perform the groundbreaking surgery earlier this month.
Cape Town baby ‘half-delivered’ in novel surgery
Little Ivoree Jane is currently receiving ICU care, after her almost-implausible arrival into this world. The infant was found to have a large tumour inside her mouth while inside the womb. The mother, who insisted on having the child, agreed to undergo a complicated procedure in order to complete the birth.
The medical teams decided to only ‘half-deliver’ the baby via cesarean, giving them a half-hour window to operate on the mouth while the baby was still receiving oxygen from the placenta. From start to finish, this was a wholly grueling task:
- Establishing an airway was very challenging due to the size and position of the tumour in the baby’s mouth.
- After 30 minutes an airway was established via a tube through the baby’s mouth.
- The baby was then fully delivered and further managed in the baby crib in theater. There, the oral tube was exchanged for a nasal tube
- Baby was then taken to the neonatal intensive care unit (ICU) in a stable condition (under the care of Dr L Van Wyk)
- Most of the oral tumour could be removed by the Paediatric surgery team 5 days later, on 15 December.
- The baby girl has been named Ivoree Jane and is currently stable, still in the neonatal ICU for supportive care.
‘First of its kind’ procedure gives tumour-afflicted infant a chance at life
The next few days remain critical, and neither parent nor child is out of the woods yet. Ivoree Jane still requires high-level treatment, and closing her mouth remains a challenge. However, the surgery itself can be considered a success.
Professor Lut Geerts talked us through the medical miracle on Wednesday:
“An extensive team of medical subspecialists at TBH performed a successful EXIT procedure on 10 December 2021 by only half-delivering a baby to create a gap of 30 minutes for treatment while continuing oxygen supply via the placenta.”
“In that period a team of doctors used multiple methods to establish an airway for the baby because she couldn’t breathe spontaneously due to the presence of a very large tumour of her throat, which protruded from her mouth.”
“We believe this to be the first of its kind in South Africa and are very proud of the team spirit of all involved role players that made it possible to carry out this procedure with less than 24 hours’ notice as the mother showed signs of impending labour before the planned surgery date.”
Lut Geerts
