A case for the neurosurgeon
On Monday, parents brought their 2-month-old baby to the mission hospital. They said the birth at a hospital in Cusco had been difficult. Some doctors had explained the protrusion above their child’s nose (illustration from a specialist book) with a broken nasal bone. Other doctors had diagnosed the tumorous swelling as a benign fatty tissue tumor (lipoma).
Dr. Martina John and Dr. Christian Reibold had a completely different suspicion, which was confirmed in the MRI at the Diospi Suyana Hospital on Thursday. The boy has an encephalocele. In this rare defect, which affects around one child in 10,000, brain tissue and meninges protrude through a gap in the skull bone. In most cases, the occiput is affected. In the current case, the encephalocele is located at the front above the nose, exactly as shown in the textbook.
A neurosurgeon must now reposition the tissue in the head and close the skull. We are expecting our neurosurgeon Andreas Warkentin to arrive in a few weeks’ time. After his language training, he will be the only neurosurgeon in the state of Apurimac. /KDJ
