Chinese Baby Born With Heart Growing Outside His Body
For two-month-old Xin Xin, the wonders and beauty of life are on severe and tenuous hold as doctors struggle to save him from a very rare condition known as an ectopic heart, in which only a thin membrane covers the organ.
The image above tells the terrible truth about this birth defect as his heart can be seen beating outside his stomach.
The child’s parents who are migrant workers in Tengchong County, Yunnan Province, brought him to Xin Qiao Hospital, in Chongqing, where surgeons are evaluating the best way to treat the baby and this most delicate and dangerous situation.
The parents were in utter shock when doctors told them that the blackish, undulating patch on their child’s belly was his beating heart.
“It’s a very rare case. His heart is so exposed that the slightest knock or contact could be fatal,” said Doctor Zhang Yuping, vice director of hospital’s pediatrics department.
In a similar case in India two years ago, a 10-day-old child born with an ectopic heart underwent a four-hour operation conducted by 13 surgeons. Without stopping the heart at any point, doctors actually created a space for the baby’s heart inside his body by gingerly shifting the positions of his lungs and liver.
It is not known if doctors will use this same technique for treating Xin Xin, but their fear for his survival has impelled their joint decision to wait until he is three months old before attempting any procedures, at which point most of his organs will have developed significantly and his body will be strong enough for surgery.
Hearts go out to this poor little child who needs a safer place for his own.
Check out this video documenting another survivor of this very rare and perilous condition.
By MDeeDubroff on 25-03-2011
