Doctors at a hospital in the north-central Vietnamese province of Nghe An have successfully saved a baby girl who was born with organs outside of her body.

The Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital confirmed on Tuesday it had treated a newborn with a rare birth defect that caused internal organs to protrude from her belly.

The defect was previously diagnosed when the mother, a 22-year-old resident in Hoang Mai Town, Nghe An, was 27 weeks pregnant, with doctors warning that the neonatal death rate would be high.

The woman was admitted to the infirmary when she was about to go into labor at 36 weeks of pregnancy.

Doctors discovered abnormalities of the fetus during an ultrasound and decided to hold an urgent consultation.

They later performed an emergency C-section.

The newborn weighed about two kilograms, while her internal organs protruded from a hole in her abdomen.

Doctors were unable to push the organs back into the girl’s belly at the time; otherwise, it could result in bowel necrosis which would threaten her life.

They had to keep the exposed organs in a sterile bag so that the intestines could slowly move back into the abdomen.

The baby later underwent her first surgery and was given intravenous nutrition and intensive care for about 10 days.

As her condition improved, doctors performed the second surgery to put back all of the organs inside her belly. Her abdominal wall was then closed.

The newborn is now healthy enough to be discharged from the hospital.

“This type of birth defect is very rare and can pose high risk of infection and fatality,” said Dr. Hoang Van Thang from the surgical intensive care unit of Nghe An Obstetrics and Pediatrics Hospital.

The surgeries were successful thanks to the prompt coordination of obstetricians and pediatricians at the infirmary, Thang added.

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