By Ofentse Mokae
18 January 2010
Nine day-old baby Ashleigh Louw, who was born with her heart outside her chest has successfully survived a surgery yesterday.
Surgeons managed to close the abdominal wall and put the heart back in her chest.
Dr Jerome Loveland, head of paediatric surgery at the Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Johannesburg said they could however not put the heart back in its normal position.
Loveland said this owed to a risk as it could trigger cardiac arrest.
Baby Ashleigh’s rare condition known as Pentalogy of Cantrell, is a congenital abnormality that affects about one in a million babies.
Medical reports says the condition consists of five associated defects, including structural abnormalities of the heart and defects in the covering of the heart, the diaphragm, sternum (breastbone) and of the anterior abdominal wall.
According to academic literature, she has a 50% chance of survival.
Various evaluations and investigations will take place to determine the next step for Ashley.
Dr Loveland said the next 24 hours will be critical, but the baby remains stable.
Yesterday’s surgery took about three hours and involved a team of 10 medical staff.
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