Jaipur, March 8 Doctors at the state-run Sawai Man Singh hospital here have successfully performed a complex laparoscopic surgery on an 11-year-old boy suffering from a rare congenital diaphragmatic hernia, hospital authorities said.
The child, a resident of Alwar, had been suffering from breathlessness and chest pain for the past two months, with symptoms worsening while walking or running.
He visited the hospital’s outpatient department (OPD) around two weeks ago for consultation, following which a detailed investigation revealed that he had a congenital diaphragmatic hernia – a condition present since birth.
Due to a defect in the diaphragm, the muscle that separates the chest and abdominal cavity, nearly 70 per cent of the liver, along with the gallbladder and a large portion of the intestines, had shifted into the right side of the chest cavity, the hospital said in a statement.
"As a result, the right lung had become severely compressed, preventing adequate expansion. The child had effectively been living with the function of only one lung," it said.
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia is a rare condition, and is usually found on the left side of the body. Right-sided cases are extremely uncommon, making this case particularly challenging from a surgical perspective, it added.
"Considering the severity of the condition, surgery was planned. Conventionally, such cases require large surgical incisions by opening the abdomen and chest, or through a large incision in the back (via laparotomy or thoracotomy),” the statement said.
However, in this case, the surgical team decided to perform the procedure laparoscopically, which is technically much more demanding, it added.
The entire surgery was performed through only three small incisions, and all the displaced organs were carefully repositioned into the abdomen.
"Seven days after the operation, the child is completely healthy," the statement said.