Posted on 12/02/2005 4:31:40 PM PST by SandRat
12/2/2005 - LACKLAND AIR FORCE BASE, Texas (AFPN) -- Six-week-old Liliana Renovata of Galveston, Texas, looks completely healthy in her mother’s arms. She is feeding well and exhibits normal brain function.
So Liliana will go home with her parents this week.
Doctors said no baby has ever looked so good after 20 days on heart and lung bypass machines and a five-hour open-heart surgery. One surgeon calls her rescue “an amazing save.”
Physicians from the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Wilford Hall Medical Center and San Antonio’s CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital made that possible.
When Liliana was born in Galveston, she was placed on an extra corporeal membrane oxygenation machine at a hospital there. She suffered from total anomalous pulmonary venous return, a rare defect that is lethal without surgical treatment.
The baby needed transfer to a center where open-heart surgery could correct the blood flow problem.
While many hospitals have ECMO machines, only Wilford Hall Medical Center here has the ability to transport patients hooked up to the machine for a long-distance flight. The medical center has the system in place to assist Air Force families stationed in remote locations without access to ECMO.
But the Air Force made a special exception for Baby Liliana. An ECMO team drove to Galveston to prepare the child for transport. Then a C-17 Globemaster III flew the baby to San Antonio Nov. 11.
U.T. Health Science Center faculty surgeons Dr. John Calhoon and Dr. Jorge Salazar, performed the surgery two weeks ago at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital. Dr. Maria Pierce, head neonatologist at the hospital, prepared the infant for surgery with three days of specialized care.
Drs. Calhoon and Salazar rerouted Liliana’s “plumbing” to normalize her blood flow.
“For a baby to be on ECMO for 20 days and survive is a miracle. And for her to then have open-heart surgery and survive is even more of a miracle,” Dr. Salazar said. “Two weeks later, she is ready to go home. I’ve never heard of this happening before. This is an amazing save.”
Lt. Col. (Dr.) Brian Hall, head neonatologist at Wilford Hall, supervised Liliana’s care aboard the Globemaster III and on ambulances. The baby was on a portable ECMO machines the entire time until put on a larger machine at the San Antonio children’s hospital.
“This is another example of the great collaboration we have in San Antonio,” Dr. Calhoon said. “A child is going home well today because of the efforts of many skilled professionals at three institutions.
“This child would have died otherwise,” he said.
Dr. Salazar said babies born with this condition usually are taken to open-heart surgery immediately and are never placed on artificial life support.
“That makes Liliana’s 20 days on the ECMO machine and her complete recovery all the more remarkable,” he said.
Editor’s note: Story compiled from information provided by Wilford Hall Medical Center, CHRISTUS Santa Rosa Children’s Hospital and the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Great story. Welcome Liliana!
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