Rare surgery: Indian docs reconstruct child's bronchus

LUCKNOW: In a rare feat, doctors at a hospital here have reconstructed the right bronchus of a two-year-old boy, it was announced here on Friday.

It took three hours to reconstruct the right bronchus of Mohammed Salim at the Chhatrapati Sahuji Maharaj Medical University (CSMMU), popularly known as King George's Medical University.

The bronchus is one of two airways connecting the lungs with the main windpipe or trachea. The boy's bronchus was "just 1.5 cm long, while the actual length should have been an inch-and-a-half", Ashish Wakhlu said.

Salim, who had been under observation after the surgery Tuesday, was able to breathe normally on Thursday with a fully functional respiratory tract, said Wakhlu who was a member of the team that operated on the child.

A similar case had been reported from Chennai when a child was diagnosed with a missing bronchus soon after birth. The problem was corrected within a few weeks, the doctors said.

However, in Salim's case, delayed diagnosis resulted in respiratory infections, doctors added.