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| The parents of Cho Keonoo pose with neonatology professor Kim Ai-rhan at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, Sept. 3, with their baby who was discharged from the hospital after five months of intensive care after being born as a 288-gram "preemie." Courtesy of Asan Medical Center |
By Bahk Eun-ji
A premature baby weighing only 288 grams and measuring 23.5 centimeters, small enough to fit into an adult's palm, was recently discharged from hospital following 153 days of treatment. Doctors say it is a miracle that the "preemie" overcame less than a 1 percent chance of survival.
According to the department of neonatology at Asan Medical Center Seoul, the infant, named Cho Keonoo who was born after 24 weeks and six days gestation, was released from hospital in good health, Sept. 3
It is very rare anywhere in the world for a premature baby weighing less than 400 grams to survive and Keonoo was recorded as the smallest preemie to survive here.
He was the first child for the parents who were married six years ago. At the 17th week of pregnancy, doctors told them the fetus was not thriving in the mother's uterus and was unlikely to survive.
The couple visited Asan Medical Center in Seoul at the end of March with a desperate wish and the medical team led by obstetrics and gynecology professor Chung Jin-hoon attempted to save the baby.
The mother was hospitalized on April 1, but had to deliver the boy in an emergency Caesarean section three days later, and the 153-day miracle began.
The infant was born weighing only 288 grams and in the hope that he would get better and healthy, the medical staffers called him "Palpali" (882), which is the backward pronunciation of his birth weight in Korean.
The neonatal care team led by professor Kim Ai-rhan made efforts for Keonoo who was a very difficult case even for the veteran team because they could not apply the techniques usually used on ordinary premature babies because of his ultra-small size.
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| A medical staffer takes care of Cho Keonoo, who was born prematurely, at a neonatal intensive care unit at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, in this April 8 photo, four days after his birth. Courtesy of Asan Medical Center |
Keonoo was unable to breathe on his own, because the alveoli in his lungs had not yet been completely developed. He passed through various challenges, receiving treatments for his heart, lungs, intestines and retina.
In order to feed the baby, his mother, Lee Seo-eun, 38, pumped her breast milk and delivered it from her home in Haman, South Gyeongsang Province, to the hospital in Seoul. The parents traveled the distance that took up to 10 hours and a round trip of more than 700 kilometers, consistently over the past five months.
Thanks to everyone's efforts, Keonoo was removed from a ventilator around 80 days after birth as he was able to breathe on his own, and his weight exceeded 1 kilogram. He left the incubator after four months and weighed more than 2 kilograms when he reached five months of age.
"I am truly grateful to be able to hold healthy Keonoo in my arms thanks to the efforts of the medical staff. Although he was born the smallest, we will raise him to be the healthiest and biggest child," Lee said.
"Keonoo always made us anxious, but at the same time, he is also a young teacher who awakened everyone to the greatness and gratitude of life," professor Kim said.
"The number of premature babies is increasing due to the age of the mothers and the increase in use of artificial insemination due to infertility, but the success rate of premature babies' treatment is rising day by day due to the development of technology, so I hope many families with premature babies will not give up," the professor said.
