Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals, Delhi performed a rare reconstructive surgery on a 12-year-old boy from Uzbekistan and gave his voice back

Master Khusanbek Ozotilla, 12-year-old boy from Uzbekistan met with an accident in his home country at the age of 3, where he fell from his home’s terrace and suffered critical head injuries for which, he was admitted (ICU) at a city hospital in Uzbekistan and underwent a lifesaving procedure called tracheostomy (a surgical procedure that involves creating an opening in the neck in order to place a tube into a person’s windpipe). Thereafter, the child had a permanent hole in his neck due to which he lost his ability to speak and was not able to communicate normally.

Childhood is all about talking, learning and exploring the world. However, Khusanbek was deprived of the pleasures of life as he was unable to speak. Post 10 years of not being able to communicate, Khusanbek’s mother decided to get him treated at Indraprastha Apollo Hospital. The team at Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals of Dr. Suresh Singh Naruka, Consultant, Department of ENT along with Dr. (Prof) Ameet Kishore, Senior Consultant Surgeon, ENT and Dr. Nishant Rana Registrar recently carried out the surgery wherein the trachea of the child was reconstructed.

The child was admitted on 16^th December 2019. The surgery was planned to be executed in two stages. In first stage, Patient Khusanbek’s underwent an endoscopic examination where his airway was found to be narrowed, the condition being called subglottic stenosis and a T- tube was placed in his trachea after the assessment. After examination, it was decided that the line of treatment to be adopted was a reconstructive surgery to correct the narrowed airway which was technically challenging. After 7 days, the second stage surgery was conducted in which, a proper reconstruction of his windpipe was conducted successfully using a part of his rib as a graft, making his windpipe wider. The surgery was conducted smoothly without any complication. The operation enabled the closing of the opening in the neck which had been created earlier.

The child was then kept in pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) for one day under the supervision of Dr. Nameet Jerath, Senior Pediatrician, Indraprastha Apollo Hospitals. Next morning the child was removed off the ventilator and the tube which he carried for 10 long years was removed.

Dr. Naruka said “Finally after a long 10 year period full of misery, suffering and living without a voice, the kid is able to speak again. The mother of child was not sure that this would ever happen. The child was discharged on 29th December, 2019 and is living a healthy life now. He has now returned happily to his home country and is leading a normal life.”