A three-month-old baby whose brain descended into his nose due to a rare condition has been saved by doctors in a world-first operation.
The baby was born with nasal myelomeningocele, a rare pathology that involves a defective closure of the base of the skull and can cause the descent of a small part of the brain inside the nose.
This can, in turn, obstruct the passage of air, making breathing difficult, which can be especially dangerous in newborns.
Initially, doctors wanted to wait until the baby was at least eight months old before carrying out an operation, but since his breathing worsened, they decided to operate the little one when he turned three months old.
Medics led by Paolo Tavormina and his associates Federica Peradotto and Paolo Pacca decided to carry out the technically complex operation through endoscopy in a bid to save the baby.
They reached the newborn's nose with optical fibers that had a diameter of 2.7mm - and thanks to the technology used, they could monitor what was happening inside.
The surgeons then operated on the baby with micro-instruments capable of closing, through the patient's own mucosa, the hole in the base of the skull.
Following his surgery, which had a positive outcome, the baby is doing well and shows normal psycho-intellectual development, doctors said.
The operation, performed at the Regina Margherita Children's Hospital in Turin, northern Italy, had never been carried out on such a young patient - as the youngest baby who had previously undergone the same surgery was six months old, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica.
The hospital specialises in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of various childhood diseases and is renowned all over Italy.
It provides highly specialised pediatric services and treats newborns, children and adolescents for the most complex, rare and chronic pathologies.
Dr Paolo Tavormina, whose team led the delicate operation on the baby, is an otolaryngology expert whose research includes studies on otitis treatment, pediatric tonsillectomy, neck infections as well as ear, nose and throat infections caused by the presence of foreign bodies.
Earlier this week, we reported the story of Sarah Copeland, whose unborn daughter underwent incredibly rare surgery last month to correct a hole in her spine.
The baby is Sarah and partner Christian Rayner's first after she suffered two miscarriages, but a 20-week san had revealed the little girl had spina bifida and would be paralysed from the waist down if doctors did not act quickly.
Spina bifida is a neural tube defect when a baby's spine and spinal cord do not develop properly in the womb, causing a gap in the spine.
Sarah and Christian were "delighted" when a post-op scan showed their baby wriggling about, meaning the surgery had been a success - with the couple now preparing to welcome their child on July 22.
