A baby named Roona in India who was born with a gigantic skull has been discharged from the hospital after doctors shrunk the skull.
Roona was saved by emergency surgery in May after she was born with a head that was 94 centimeters (37 inches) around.
“You can imagine the challenges in managing such a baby, both surgically and for the parents, also,” said Sandeep Vaishya, head of neurosurgery at Fortis hospital in Delhi, in May. “We had never faced such a situation before. There was no way we would know exactly how we are going to deal with it.”
Now AFP is reporting that doctors allowed the baby to go home after her skull was considerably shrunk.
“Roona’s health has improved significantly,” said Vaishya. “We have discharged the baby this morning and she is fit to travel.”
Roona was born with a condition called hydrocephalus, which causes cerebrospinal fluid to build up on the brain.
Her head has now shrunk to 58 centimeters (22 inches). Another surgery in about half a year should shrink it even more.
Roona has a chance of developing normally now.
“Except for the size of her head, she is an absolutely normal baby. She eats without a problem and moves her arms and legs easily,” he said.
Roona’s poor parents couldn’t pay for the surgery but two Norwegian college students started a campaign that raised $58,000, about half of which was spent on surgery and about half of which will be used by the family for caring for Roona.
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