USA: A POLISH BABY BOEN WITH PART OF HER BRAIN ON THE OUTSIDE OF HER SKULL UNDERGOES THE SECOND SURGERY TO REMOVE THE PROTRUSION AND RECONSTRUCT HER SCULL

Record ID: 584891

  • Title: USA: A POLISH BABY BOEN WITH PART OF HER BRAIN ON THE OUTSIDE OF HER SKULL UNDERGOES THE SECOND SURGERY TO REMOVE THE PROTRUSION AND RECONSTRUCT HER SCULL
  • Date: 26th November 2002
  • Summary: (W1) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (NOVEMBER 26, 2002) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. CU ALEKSANDRA ANDRUSZKIEWICZ KISSES DAUGHTER IZABELLA MICHTA 0.12 2. SV/MCU OF ANDRUSZKIEWICZ AND IZABELLA AT CRIB (2 SHOTS) 0.23 3. SV ANDRUSZKIEWICZ CARRIES IZA TO OPERATING ROOM 0.35 4. MCU DOCTOR WATCHES 0.38 5. MCU ANDRUSZKIEWICZ ROCKS IZA 0.45 6. CU OF PREPARATIONS (3 SHOTS) 0.58 7. MCU DR. JEFFREY WISOFF, NEUROSURGEON LOOKING AT MRI SCANS 1.02 8. CU MRI SCANS 1.06 9. MCU (English) DR. JOSEPH MCCARTHY, PLASTIC SURGEON, NEW YORK UNIVERSITY SAYING: "The latest MRI showed more brain than we thought, I would say in terms of skull 50 to 60 percent is missing and the skull that is there is very tight." 1.27 10. SV/CU OF SURGERY (3 SHOTS) 1.39 11. MCU (English) MCCARTHY SAYING: "So we have two problems with the skull. One is the missing skull and the second is a skull bone that is too tight for the brain that's there." 1.50 12. SV/CU OF SURGERY (3 SHOTS) 2.04 13. MCU (English) MCCARTHY SAYING: "What we are about to do now is take the skull and cut it like staves in a barrel and then take those pieces of skull bone and open them up like that." 2.22 14. SV OF SURGERY 2.27 15. MCU (English) DR. JEFFREY WISOFF, DIRECTOR OF PAEDIATRIC NEUROSURGERY AND NEW YORK UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTRE SAYING: "So far we've accomplished everything that we want to. We're going to leave her with a reasonably normal shaped head, that the encephaly will not be visible, and that hopefully we've created a large enough skull cavity to accommodate the brain." 2.42 16. SV/CU OF ANDRUSZKIEWICZ AND IZA (3 SHOTS) 3.01 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 11th December 2002 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVA8YLYW6WGQFMJUWHCV6DNBO22C
  • Story Text: A polish baby born with part of her brain on the
    outside of her skull has just undergone the second part of a
    gruelling surgery to remove the massive protrusion and to
    reconstruct her skull.



    For the second time in a week Aleksandra
    Andruszkiewicz, struggling with emotion, places her baby's
    life in the hands of New York surgeons.

    Her 16-month-old daughter Izabella Michta was born with a
    combination of rare congenital conditions in which her body
    overproduces brain fluid. The condition has caused a growth
    which pouches out into a massive water balloon-like sack on
    her forehead.

    Polish doctors were unable to help the baby girl so her
    mother made a desperate plea for help to to the international
    media and aid agencies. Donors in Poland and New York banded
    together to pay for the family's travel to New York for the
    surgery.

    A week ago doctors put a shunt in Iza's head diverting
    excess fluid accumulating in her head and draining it into her
    abdomen. On Tuesday (November 26), the doctors began the
    second phase of the risky operation, scanning the growth for
    brain matter and reconstructing the baby's skull.

    The shunt successfully decreased the size of the
    protrusion, or encephalocele, by half, but there was more to
    be done. as nearly one-third of the remaining mass consisted
    of brain matter.

    Doctor Joseph McCarthy, a plastic surgeon at New York
    University Hospital said: "The latest MRI showed more brain
    than we thought. I would say in terms of skull 50 to 60
    percent is missing and the skull that is there is very tight."
    The doctors pull back Iza's scalp, trying to minimize the
    brain mass whilst working out how to replace her missing
    skull.

    "So we have two problems with the skull. One is the
    missing skull and the second is a skull bone that is too tight
    for the brain that's there," McCarthy said.

    Plastic surgeons split the back of her skull to allowing
    room for expansion.

    "What we are about to do now is take the skull," McCarthy
    explained, "and cut it like staves in a barrel and then take
    those pieces of skull bone and open them up like that."
    The doctors hope Iza's skull will heal itself by filling
    in the remaining gaps with bone. To create her new forehead
    the plastic surgeons moulded a plastic plate to form the
    shape.

    Neurosurgeon Doctor Jeffrey Wisoff is optimistic that the
    surgical team can normalize Iza's appearance. "So far we've
    accomplished everything that we want to. We're going to leave
    her with a reasonably normal shaped head, that the encephaly
    will not be visible, and that hopefully we've created a large
    enough skull cavity to accommodate the brain."
    After the perilous operation, Aleksandra sat by her baby's
    side watching her baby's progress. Doctor Wiseoff has said the
    next 48 hours are critical because there is a chance that her
    brain will swell causing a stroke or death. He added that if
    the baby makes it through the next two days she has a 60 to 70
    percent chance of developing as a normal child.




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