Premature infant gets innovative, life-saving procedure
Since the life-denying power of Houston hospitals has been a topic of discussion from time to time, it's nice to see a story on the life-saving power of those hospitals. Here's an excerpt from Eric Berger's story for the Chronicle earlier this week:
Born two months premature, and weighing just 2 pounds, 8 ounces, Kaylin [Baker] had two defects in her aorta, the body's largest artery, which carries blood from the heart to the body.
Two narrowings, one in a valve leading from the heart to the aorta and the other farther down the line, were forcing the heart to work overtime to deliver blood throughout her tiny body. Without surgery, her doctors said, the heart soon would pump itself to death.
Then, said first-time parents Nancy and Chris Baker of Austin, a miracle happened.
Instead of cutting her chest open — a difficult procedure from which Kaylin might never recover — physicians at Houston's Texas Children's Hospital devised a daring, almost certainly never-before-tried procedure in a baby so small.
The rest of the story is here. It's a good read.
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 07/23/06 09:45 AM | Houston Miscellany | Print | Comments (0)
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