Video Indian Baby Recovering after Surgery for Hydrocephalus

An 18-month-old Indian baby undergoes a life saving successful surgery for severe hydrocephalus, a rare disorder that caused her head to swell to nearly three times its size.

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In a hospital on the outskirts of New Delhi, on Thursday, an 18-month-old Indian baby underwent a life saving surgery for severe hydrocephalus, a rare disorder that caused her head to swell to nearly three times its size.

Hydrocephalus is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the brain resulting in the growing of the patient's head.

The surgeon who conducted the operation said it was a huge challenge to carry out the procedure as the head of the 18-month-old was one of the largest documented in the history of medicine.

[Dr. Sandeep Vaishya]:
"It is probably one of the biggest ever heads. The heads' circumference was 94-centimetre when the baby came to us. So, there were a lot of challenges with this kind of head because there is no precedence of such a case being treated anywhere in the world. So, we had to be really, careful, as to how do we go about it. Apart from that the baby was severely malnutritioned and grossly underweight. We had to tackle all those challenges."

The surgeon said the operation was successful and the baby was recuperating well.

[Dr. Sandeep Vaishya]:
"After draining the fluid, her activities have improved a lot. She is now thriving well, responding to music, responding to sound. She is trying to hold things. Even tried to pull her feeding tube out, in fact, she pulled it out. Previously her movements were almost not there, so, she is doing well."

The circumference of her head has been reduced to nearly 63 centimetres from 94 centimetres and doctors hope to bring it further down by another 10 centimetres in the coming days.

A normal baby of her age and size usually has a head circumference of about 35 centimetres, doctors say.

The baby hails from a small village in India's remote northeastern state of Tripura, where within weeks of her birth she was diagnosed with this rare condition.

Experts say that if a hydrocephalus patient is left untreated, it eventually leads to permanent brain damage.

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