India's Smallest Baby Survives at Rainbow Hospital, Hyderabad

(Disclaimer: The following press release comes to you under an arrangement with PRNewswire. PTI takes no editorial responsibility for the same).

HYDERABAD, India, July 20, 2018/PRNewswire/ -- In yet another medical marvel reported out of India, Hyderabad has become the home to South East Asia's smallest baby delivered at Rainbow Children's Hospital in Hyderabad. The baby girl Cherry was born to proud parents Nitika and Saurabh hailing from Chhattisgarh. She was born premature at 25 weeks gestation (nearly 4 months earlier than expected date), and received extensive care at the hands of a multi-disciplinary team of medical experts led by Dr. Dinesh Kumar Chirla, Director Intensive Care Services at Rainbow Hospitals. The baby was discharged weighing 1.980 Kg.

(Photo: https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/720538/Baby_Cherry_Parents_Rainbow_Hospital.jpg )

This was Nitika's fifth pregnancy and previously she had four abortions. This was her only chance of having a baby. For around 24 weeks the ultrasound showed that there was very less amniotic fluid around baby. She weighed just 350 grams and the blood that flows from mother to baby was severely compromised. There was very less possibility of the baby to survive in the womb. The couple consulted many hospitals and doctors. However, no one was ready to take the case as the chance of survival of the baby was very low. They were than referred to Rainbow Children's Hospital.

The parents then met Neonatologist in Rainbow Children's Hospital. The team assured the couple that they had routinely manage babies born as early as 24 to 25 weeks of gestation. However, the smallest baby saved earlier at Rainbow was 449 grams. Additionally, the Neonatal team was ready to take up the case and Nitika was also advised to deliver in Perinatal Centre at Rainbow hospitals. Nitika was shifted in ambulance and brought to Rainbow Hospital.

The Perinatal team comprising of anaesthetist, senior gynaecologist and neonatologist all came together to make a detail plan of delivery. On 27th February, Nitika delivered a baby girl weighing 375 grams. She was only 20 cms in length and fitted in the palm of the hands. Parents were assured that the hospital is going to go through this journey together with them.

Speaking about Cherry's case, Dr. Ramesh Kancharla, Chairman and Managing Director, Rainbow Group of Hospitals said, "We are able to send a baby who is born with birth weight as small as 375 grams home because of our advance perinatal center." He said, "Close to 20 years of hard work has gone in to developing such expertise to save small babies. We need a team of committed Obstetrician, anaesthetist, foetal medicine specialist and neonatologist to achieve such results". He added, "a very dedicated and committed Nursing team was instrumental in saving Cherry. The Neonatal Intensive Care unit is the most advance and well equipped in the country and has the most qualified team of expert neonatologist." He also mentioned, "Rainbow is striving each year in establishing clinical excellence in Neonatal, Pediatric and Obstetric care and raising the benchmark."

Elaborating on the case, Dr. Dinesh Kumar Chirla, Director Intensive Care Services, Rainbow Hospital said, "The initial 3-4 days post birth are very crucial as babies are most fragile during this time. Specially, in this case, there were many health challenges like drop in the oxygen and BP level. Owing to the size of the baby, we had to find the smallest possible breathing tube to be inserted. Moreover, the baby had a breathing problem (PDA) which normally closes in everyone after birth but did not close and was large in Cherry's case causing oxygenation problem for which we had to give special medication and keep the baby under a ventilator for breathing support. Fortunately for this child, there was no bleeding in the brain."

On Day 5, Cherry had bleeding in her lungs and needed to be shifted to special ventilator called High Frequency Oscillation ventilator. She was successfully managed. However, she needed ventilator for nearly 105 days. She had many emergencies from which she was successfully saved.

Cherry's case was a particularly complicated one with multiple hurdles including jaundice, feeding difficulties, multiple blood transfusion and chronic lung disease. With expert care from the medical team at Rainbow Hospitals, Cherry steadily gained weight and moved towards normalcy. She was discharged home after spending 128 days in hospital. She is now breathing without support. She is feeding directly and is maintaining temperature and looks like any other normal baby. On follow up, she was weighed 2.14 kg. ( More) Source: Rainbow Children's Hospital PRNewswire

DL