This Article is From Sep 06, 2010

Delhi: 11-yr-old Nigerian girl undergoes rare spleen surgery

Delhi: 11-yr-old Nigerian girl undergoes rare spleen surgery
New Delhi: Zaneta Uwe Isalgedighi, an 11-year-old girl from Nigeria came all the way to India because she wanted to be healthy again.

Zaneta was diagnosed with Haemolytic Anaemia with Hypersplenism with Massive Splenomegaly. In simple terms, her spleen had grown four times the normal size.

Zaneta was treated at the Fortis Hospital in Vasant Kunj, Delhi by Dr Randeep Wadhawan. She is now fit again and almost as healthy as any girl her age.

"When she came to us, she had problem in walking and was also having respiratory problems. She was not as healthy as an 11-year-old girl should be," said Dr Wadhawan.

She had continuous pain on the left side of the abdomen and was breathless on exertion. Investigations revealed that she had very low haemoglobin of 4 gm% with massive splenomegaly (four times normal).

Spleen is an organ which fights infections and keeps body fluids clean.

"Open surgery is the general procedure followed by the doctors, but we did a different surgery as her case was different," said Wadhawan.

Zaneta was discharged from the hospital on the third post-operative day and came for a follow up on the seventh day.

"She had no pain on the left side of the abdomen and the operative scar was barely visible. We advised her a normal diet, normal physical activities and gave the fitness certificate to fly back to Nigeria," the doctor added. 
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