Rawalpindi: Doctors at Al-Shifa Trust (AST) Eye Hospital have successfully performed a rare life-saving operation on a three-day-old newborn suffering from an aggressive congenital eye tumour, in what hospital officials described as the first documented case in Pakistan involving the successful treatment of a 285-gram congenital eye tumour in an infant of that age.
The infant, from a village in Jhelum district, was brought to the hospital shortly after birth with a rapidly growing tumour affecting one eye.
Following an emergency assessment, specialists determined that immediate surgery was the only option to prevent life-threatening complications. The procedure was performed by a team comprising Dr Tayyab Afghani, Dr Faizan Tahir, Dr Ali Raza Syed and Dr Aiman, assisted by anaesthetists, nurses and other clinical staff.
Owing to the advanced stage of the disease, surgeons removed the affected eye to completely excise the tumour and save the infant''s life. According to the treating team, a normal newborn eyeball weighs about three grams, whereas the tumour removed from the infant weighed 285 grams approximately 95 times the normal weight of a newborn eyeball. Consultant ophthalmologist Dr Tayyab Afghani said the operation had been successful and the infant was recovering well under close medical supervision.
