Telethon: Emergency surgery by Dr Jheuvan Leslie at PCH gives baby Mason a new beginning
When Little Mason from Ballajura was born in Joondalup Private Hospital last September, everything looked normal at first.
However, soon after the feed began to vomit. Within a few hours, Mason’s health fell sharply when vomiting brown fluid and losing weight quickly and fell from 2.9kg to 2.5kg in just two days.
An X -ray rapidly revealed a life -threatening flaw in the esophagus that required to repair emergency surgery.
He was diagnosed with a tracheoesophageal fistula, that is, the esophagus (food pipe) was not connected to his stomach, and the milk had no place to go.
Mason was quickly transferred to Perth Children’s Hospital by the newborn emergency transportation service and had an emergency surgery to repair the esophagus on the same day.
Care Mason and his friendship were financed by Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and Telethon. Thanks to Jhevan Leslie’s expertise, his story became hope and endurance.
Despite a successful surgery, Mason’s esophagus was extremely narrow like a funnel and made it difficult to feed; Finally, a feed tube was placed, but it required daytime sucking because it could not even swallow its own saliva due to lack of width.
In a series of sensitive procedures known as esophagus dilatations, doctors gradually expanded Mason’s esophagus.
Using a small balloon, Dr Leslie, the entrepreneurial radiology man, slowly stretched Mason’s narrowed esophagus, helped swallow and feed, and ultimately saved his life.
Since then, Mason has spent a total of two and a half months at the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and about two and a half months at Perth Children’s Hospital, and more hospitals are expected to remain as the treatment continues.
Now for about 10 months, Mason happily drinks full bottles and begins to enjoy a small amount of solid foods.
Each year, up to 150 babies in Australia are born with a tracheoesophageal fistula, which requires emergency surgery to stop food or milk from entering the lungs instead of the stomach.
Dr Leslie described most of Mason’s 15 dilatations with Fantastic care with Mason’s mother, Shenae.
“After each procedure, he always checked Mason after each procedure.
Dr Leslie’s role in the healing of Mason was possible with a scholarship financed by Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and Teethon.
Dr I am incredibly grateful to Perth Children’s Hospital Foundation and Teethon for this opportunity, Dr Dr Leslie said.
“When I return home, interventional radiology focuses more on adult care, so many doctors are not comfortable to manage pediatric cases.”
Medical Imaging President Dr Craig Gibson at Perth Children’s Hospital, Dr Leslie plays an important role in expanding the hospital’s interventional radiology services and allowed more WA children to receive earlier treatment and spend less time in the hospital.
“Recently, the demand for our interventional radiology procedures has increased by 10-20 % annually, D said Dr Gibson.
“In addition, we have increased the interventions we offer, which is a major result for families in WA. It’s just a part of our interventional radiology – our team performs more than 80,000 imaging every year.”
Dr Leslie was a part of the team that performed the Bleomycin electrosclerotherapy procedure for the first time in WA, a new technique that uses medication and electric current to treat complex vascular problems in children.
Dr Leslie said, “Some of the procedures we do are breaking out.”
“The research is still relatively new, so being among the first person to treat children with innovative techniques that offer a safe and effective alternative in the country, giving hope to patients who think that there is no other choice.”
