Newborn baby boy with jaundice and acute brain complications was treated with spectacular success

(DN) - On the morning of August 28, information from Dong Nai Children's Hospital said: The hospital has just successfully treated a newborn baby boy with severe jaundice and acute brain complications. Accordingly, the baby boy is the son of Ms. TTQ, 25 days old, in Nam Cat Tien commune, Dong Nai province.

The patient received blood transfusion and intensive phototherapy. Photo: Huy Hoang

Specialist II Doctor Huynh Thi Thanh, Head of the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Dong Nai Children's Hospital, said: The full-term baby boy, weighing 2.5 kg, showed signs of jaundice, lethargy, poor feeding, and regurgitation a few days after birth, so his family took him to a lower-level hospital for emergency care. At Dinh Quan Regional General Hospital, the baby had slow breathing, severe lack of oxygen, and a poor prognosis. He was intubated, given a balloon pump, and transferred to Dong Nai Children's Hospital.

The child was admitted to the emergency room on August 10 in a state of breathing through a bag, lethargic, stiff, with a yellowish complexion. He was treated with anti-shock, intravenous fluids, vasopressors, and transferred to the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. Doctors found that the baby had very severe jaundice, with a dark yellow color down to the palms and soles of the feet. The test results showed that the bilirubin that causes jaundice in the blood was very high, exceeding the threshold for brain complications. This is extremely dangerous because high levels of free bilirubin will penetrate the blood-brain barrier, attach to brain cells, causing loss of function and necrosis of nerve cells.

Doctors performed active phototherapy and performed blood transfusion to remove bilirubin from the blood, reducing neurotoxic complications. After 3 hours of continuous blood transfusion and active phototherapy, the baby's jaundice decreased to a safe level.

Doctors from the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit examine a baby boy on the morning of August 28. Photo: Hanh Dung

Four days after being admitted to the hospital, the baby was weaned off the ventilator, fed through a tube, and practiced breastfeeding. By the morning of August 28, the baby was awake, crying loudly, breathing well on his own, moving well, the jaundice had gone away, and his weight had increased to 2.8 kg. Doctors will examine the baby boy's brain, measure his hearing, and check his eyes, and it is expected that he will be discharged in a few days.

According to Dr. Thanh, blood transfusion is a high-tech technique, strictly calculated, tightly controlled, ensuring sterility. Although jaundice is common in newborns, if treated late, it will cause serious consequences such as brain damage, cerebral palsy, permanent deafness. In the acute stage, it can cause cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, and if not treated promptly, it will lead to death.

Hanh Dung

Source: https://baodongnai.com.vn/xa-hoi/y-te/202508/be-trai-so-sinh-bi-vang-da-bien-chung-nao-cap-duoc-dieu-tri-thanh-cong-ngoan-muc-5f018bf/