An eight-month-old baby in Laos diagnosed with complicated congenital heart disease was successfully treated back to good health in Vietnam.
VnExpress reports that the Vietnam National Hospital of Pediatrics admitted the infant with severe shortness of breath, chest cavity retraction, and clear hissing noises of tracheal stenosis.
Endoscopic examination revealed that the child’s tracheal stenosis covered two-thirds of the trachea’s total length. Tracheal stenosis is the abnormal narrowing of the trachea that restricts one’s ability to breathe normally.
The baby is the third child in the family and showed no signs of poor health at birth. But at eight months old, she coughed frequently and ate very little.
A hospital in Laos initially diagnosed her with Pneumonia.
Before considering medical treatment in Vietnam, his parents visited their local hospital in Laos numerous times, but doctors said it was a slightly difficult case for them to handle.
During initial operations in Vietnam, the doctors were able to reshape a part of the upper trachea, but the postoperative course was unfavorable.
“The surgery was exceedingly challenging due to the trachea’s severe constriction, and I had done two previous surgeries for the child,” said the Director of the Cardiovascular Center, Dr. Nguyen Ly Thinh Truong.
After undergoing intense surgeries in Vietnam, the baby was discharged from the hospital in September. She still requires regular monitoring and a three-month checkup will be done to determine the extent of progress.
According to the United Kingdom National Health Service, congenital heart disease is caused when something disrupts the normal development of the heart.
Most cases occur when the baby’s heart’s development is adversely affected during the first six weeks of pregnancy.
