A premature newborn was successfully treated after 14 days of birth at the B J Wadia Hospital for an extremely large and relatively rare tumour on the face, called a hemangioma. Hemangioma is a tumour made of extra blood vessels in the skin.

The baby, who is yet to be named, was found to have the tumour during ultrasonography while in his mother’s womb. “The tumour was very large and pressing on the airway making it impossible for the baby to breathe independently after birth. We tried oral medication before surgery. But due to its huge size and the involvement of airway and vital structures of the face, we had to take him up for the surgery,” said Dr Sudha Rao, head of the Paediatric Medicine Department at Wadia Hospital.