A baby born with an extremely rare blocked airway went home health last week, following the efforts of more than 35 medical specialists in the North Shore-LIJ Health System.
During a prenatal exam, it was discovered that Justin Olivares had Congenital High Airway Obstruction Syndrome (CHAOS) and that his airway had not developed, even though gestation was between six and eight weeks. This condition is so rare that, within the last 20 years, there have only been 50 reported cases.
Surgical intervention became necessary since Justin would not have been able to breathe once he was no longer attached to his mother’s placenta.
“The extreme challenge of CHAOS called for the close coordination of maternal fetal medicine specialists from LIJ Medical Center and North Shore University Hospital, and teams of physicians and nurses from numerous pediatric sub-specialists at Schneider Children’s Hospital of the North Shore-LIJ Health System, including anesthesiology, otolaryngology, neonatology, medicine and cardiology,” said Dr. Dennis Davidson, the Chief of Neonatology at Schneider Children’s Hospital.
Justin was delivered at 36 weeks. At that time, an airway was created while he was still supported by the placenta.
Following a four month stay at Schneider Children’s Hospital’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Justin was ready to head home to Long Island with parents Julian and Derly and big brother Jason. Now breathing on his own, Justin has developed normally.
