Yahoo – AFP,
9 April 2015
Born 15
weeks early, Kamil nearly died from organ failure a few days later
and
conventional methods used to keep preterm babies alive proved
ineffective (AFP
Photo/Piotr Hawalej)
|
Legnica
(Poland) (AFP) - An extremely premature Polish infant weighing just 820 grammes
(1.8 pounds) has become the world's smallest and youngest patient to escape
death thanks to an artificial kidney, according to the doctor who oversaw the
treatment.
Born 15
weeks early, Kamil nearly died from organ failure a few days later and
conventional methods used to keep preterm babies alive proved ineffective.
"He
suffered grave edema" or water-retention causing swelling as his kidneys
were unable to cope, doctor Wojciech Kowalik, head of the intensive care
department of newborns at Legnica hospital in southwest Poland, told AFP
Thursday.
Being
hooked up to an artificial kidney was his only hope, but the procedure had
never been succesful in such an extreme preterm case.
Malgorzata
Wawruch holds her premature
baby Kamil Wawruch at the Legnica Hospital
in
Legnica, Poland, on March 26, 2015, where
he underwent successful kidney
dialysis
(AFP Photo/Piotr Hawalej)
|
In Kamil's
case, there was no alternative but to give it a go.
"For a
baby weighing just 820 grammes, it's exceptional. We later learnt that he was
the smallest in the world to survive thanks to this method. It has already been
tried with children as small, but none survived," Kowalik added.
Kowalik
said he had found no precedents in medical journals dealing with dialysis used
on extremely premature babies.
"It's
a miracle," Kamil's father Adam Wawruch told AFP as the five-month-old
baby weighed in at four kilogrammes before being released from hospital.
With public
spending on healthcare in Poland still low by Western standards, not all Polish
hospitals have dialysis machines. Kamil had the good fortune to be born in one
that did, thanks to funds raised by a popular annual telethon.
Founded in
1993, the Great Orchestra for Christmas Charity (WOSP) has raised $160 million
(150 million euros) for medical equipment to treat children. It paid for the
dialysis machine used to save Kamil.
Known for
his colourful outfits and outgoing personality, former TV journalist Jurek
Owsiak is the force behind the telethon's success.
He visited
the Legnica hospital to congratulate the doctors responsible for saving Kamil.
"Even
if he were in New York, London or Paris instead of Legnica, Kamil would still
be a patient at risk. Everyone would wonder whether they would have the courage
to embark on this kind of therapy," Owsiak told AFP.
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