An ‘extremely low birth weight preemie’ born weighing 550 grams has been discharged from the hospital weighing a healthy 5.3 kilograms.
Busan National University Hospital said that Lee Si-yeon, who was born weighing 550 grams at a gestational age of 23 weeks (the period during which a fetus grows in the womb), was discharged from the neonatal intensive care unit on Nov. 16 after about eight months of treatment.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), babies born at less than 37 weeks’ gestational age are called preterm or premature. Regardless of gestational age, a birth weight of less than 2.5 kilograms is called low birth weight, less than 1.5 kilograms is called extremely low birth weight, and less than 1 kilogram is called very low birth weight. Two-thirds of low birth weight babies are premature. The survival rate for extremely low birth weight premature babies in Korea is 70 to 80 percent, but the survival rate for 23-week-old babies like Demoi is only 30 percent.
Born in September last year, she survived four general anesthesia surgeries and multiple treatments over the course of eight months before leaving the hospital in her mother’s arms, weighing nearly 10 times more than she did at birth. He was in a critical condition at birth, unable to breathe on his own and with a low heart rate, but after first aid, he began full treatment in the NICU스포츠토토. There were many dangerous moments during the treatment process. Despite ventilator treatment, intravenous nutrients, and internal medicine to prevent infection, he underwent four general anesthesia surgeries for patent ductus arteriosus and intestinal perforation due to necrotizing enterocolitis. He also underwent multiple antibiotic and antifungal treatments for various infections, and was treated with injections for retinopathy of prematurity due to underdeveloped retinal vessels.
In a handwritten note left at the hospital, Demo’s mother thanked the medical staff for helping her save his life, saying, “I am grateful to the medical staff who helped Demo receive a miraculous life-saving treatment while struggling to find out where he was sick because he couldn’t speak.” She added, “I feel that raising him well is my way of repaying them and I will do my best to raise him.”
“She will need long-term observation and treatment, including monitoring for retinopathy of prematurity and continued tube feeding, but she has completed all the necessary treatment in the NICU and is now doing well at home with her family,” said Dr. Park Soo-soo, professor of pediatrics.
Dr. Park Kyung-hee, head of the NICU, said, “I am very proud of Demo Yang for enduring the many bumps in the road, grateful to her family for trusting and supporting the medical staff, and to the NICU medical staff who worked day and night to treat her.”
Meanwhile, the NICU at Pusan National University Hospital is a nationally designated regional center optimized for the treatment of high-risk newborns and premature babies. Last year, it received a grade of 1 in the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service’s ‘2nd NICU Adequacy Assessment’.