A hospital in Ras Al Khaimah has successfuly operated a new born Emirati baby girl suffering from a rare congenital disorder of pancreas, which accounts for one per cent of all intestinal obstructions in the pediatric population.

Officials at the 65-bedded RAK Hospital said the one-day-old full-term newborn girl born to Emirati couple after an uneventful pregnancy was noted to have abdominal distension and episodes of bilious vomiting due to a rare congenital disorder of pancreas known as “Annular Pancreas” in conjunction with another congenital anomaly known as “Duodenal Diaphragm”.

On the very first day of her birth, it was observed that she was not able to tolerate feedings, had difficulty swallowing, was spitting up more than normal and had a bloated stomach causing further discomfort.

Doctors at RAK Hospital immediately spring into action to identify the cause of distress, abdominal radiographs were obtained and after taking parents’ permission, intricate “Intestinal Bypass Operation” was performed on the newborn to relieve her of symptoms.

Dr Anup Panigrahi, Laparoscopic surgeon and the head of Minimal Access Surgery at RAK Hospital, who performed the surgery said, “Annular pancreas accounts for one per cent of all intestinal obstructions in the pediatric population. In up to 50 per cent of the cases, it is associated with other congenital anomalies, including Down syndrome (30 per cent), Hirschsprung's disease.

Congenital causes of duodenal obstruction require surgery which can relieve the obstruction and is commonly successful without complication.
"Though to perform the surgery on a one day old baby was a tough call and required a lot of counselling to baby’s parents. We are happy that the surgery has presented great results and baby has recovered well without any complications," Dr Panigrahi said.

Post surgery baby was further treated at the Neonatal Intensive care unit of the hospital for three weeks and was discharged after full recovery.

“Seeing our little baby vomiting and crying constantly in pain made us so miserable, we couldn’t comprehend the thought of our newborn going through such an operation but we were assured by Dr Panigrahi and the team at RAK Hospital and we are so thankful to Allah that we took the right decision," remarked May Hassan, the child's mother.

"With god’s grace our baby is happy, playful and thriving well. We don’t know if we can thank the doctor enough for bringing happiness back to our life”, said the delighted mother.-TradeArabia News Service