Doctors at Abu Dhabi's Al Mafraq hospital have delivered what is claimed to be one of the world's smallest babies - 524 grams, as the surgeons had to remove the mother's womb. She was suffering from cancer of the abdominal cavity, Gulf News reported Sunday.
The infant who had spent just 21 weeks and three days in his mother's womb was reported by the Emirates' local newspapers to be feeding from his mother's milk through a tube from the moment he was removed from the womb.
Professor Mohammed Reda Sadaqetian, consultant and head of the paediatric department for premature children, was quoted by the paper as saying that the baby is considered to be "the smallest baby in the world, taking into account the number of weeks spent in his mother's womb."
A day after the delivery, the smallest child, started taking nutrition through the arteries and now his growth is continuing naturally without any complications, weighing 620 grams.
The infant, who had suffered from bleeding in the brain, has an 80 percent chance of surving but has not more than 50 percent of being normal due to the bleeding which might have affected the growth of his nervous system.
Sadaqetian said, "we will monitor his condition for six months until we identify if this percentage will decrease or increase." -- Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
