Doctors save East Timorese baby with abnormal esophagus

Last Updated: Tue, 13 Dec 2011 12:41:00 +1100

A team of Australian surgeons has performed life saving surgery on a two-week-old East Timorese girl.

The infant was born with an abnormal esophagus and could not digest her food.

The operation was a success but her recovery is being monitored closely.

Dr Peter Ferguson, from the Monash Children's Hospital in the south-eastern city of Melbourne, says without treatment the girl had only a week to live.

"The esophagus hasn't formed properly so it's impossible to swallow," he said.

"Whenever you swallow instead of gliding down the gullet, the milk taken by the baby spilled into the lungs."

Dr Ferguson says esophageal atresia is a rare condition.

"In Australia it's about one in 4,000 babies are born with this. So in Victoria there'd be about 20 a year," he said.

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