A team of specialist surgeons successfully operated on a 9-month old baby at Apollo Hospitals, Navi Mumbai. The child was admitted to the hospital with complaints of lethargy, irritability, and failure to thrive since birth, and was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder of the parathyroid glands known as Neonatal Severe Hypo parathyroidism that causes loss of regulation of calcium levels. Dr. Anil K D'Cruz, Director, Oncology and a specialist in Thyroid and Parathyroid surgery along with a team of specialists performed the complex surgery. Post the successful surgery on May 6, the child has been making steady progress, is less irritable and more active than ever. The child was discharged on May 8.

Dr. Anil K D'Cruz, Director, Oncology, Apollo Hospitals Group said, "Neonatal severe hypo-parathyroidism is a rare and potentially lethal condition with only a handful of cases reported globally. While surgery offers good prognosis, the challenge was in the diagnosis given the rarity of the condition. We also needed to bring down the calcium levels with medical treatment to optimize the child for surgery. The surgery is complex due to the miniscule size, translucent colour, critical and variable position of the parathyroid glands in children that makes it difficult to locate them. However, we were successfully able to remove the abnormal glands and use a special technique of Auto Transplantation of a small bit of parathyroid to improve long-term prognosis. This will help make him less dependent on calcium replacement as he grows."