Doctors at AIIMS Delhi successfully performed a very complex lung surgery on a four-month-old baby. The child was diagnosed with Congenital Pulmonary Airway Malformation (CPAM), a rare disease involving both lungs, before birth. Instead of removing part of the entire lung, doctors removed only the damaged part, thereby saving the child’s healthy lung portion. The special thing about this surgery was that the child was discharged from the hospital just two days after the operation.
According to AIIMS, this type of segmentectomy (surgery to remove only the affected part of the lung) in such a small child of 4 months is one of the youngest and extremely rare cases reported in the world.
What is CPAM disease?
According to doctors, Congenital Pulmonary Airway Malformation (CPAM) is a congenital disease of the lungs. In this, any part of the baby’s lungs does not develop properly in the womb and cyst-like structures are formed there. This part is not able to function like a normal lung.
Usually this disease occurs in only one lung, but both the lungs of this child were affected. In such a situation, doctors could not remove a large part of the entire lung, because this would not leave enough healthy lungs for the child in the future. In such a situation, the doctors decided to remove only the diseased part.
Why was this surgery difficult?
The lungs are divided into many small parts, which are called segments. It is easy to remove the entire part, but it is very difficult to remove only the damaged part, because the veins and respiratory tubes present inside the lungs have to be separated very carefully.
Segment-9 and Segment-10 of the lower part of the right lung of this child were removed. According to doctors, these are considered to be the most difficult parts of the lungs, because their veins and respiratory tubes are deep inside the lungs.
AIIMS team performed the operation
This surgery was led by Professor Vishesh Jain, Department of Pediatric Surgery, AIIMS Delhi. During the operation, Dr. Abhishek of the anesthesia department used special techniques to keep the child’s breathing safe.
Dr. Sandeep Aggarwal, head of the pediatric surgery department of AIIMS, said that doing such a surgery in such a small child is a big achievement. He said that this success was possible due to the hard work of the entire team and the modern facilities of AIIMS. According to AIIMS, the operation was completely successful and the child did not face any problem. He was discharged from the hospital just two days after the surgery.
Left lung surgery will take place after a few months
According to the doctors, the child’s right lung has been treated as of now, as the disease was in both the lungs, hence the surgery on the affected part of the left lung will be done after a few months. Till then the doctor will continuously monitor the child. Doctors hope that this surgery, which saves the healthy part of the lung, will ensure better lung function in the child’s later life.
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