The PORTRAIT study at the Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital (WKZ) has received funding from the For Wis(h)dom Foundation. With this money, research can be done into a new keyhole operation to remove shortness of breath in babies with less risk.
The For Wis(h)dom Foundation is a foundation that wants to make a meaningful contribution to research into the treatment of rare diseases. The For Wis(h)dom Foundation awards a total of €297,311 to the research projects. The money will be made available in three installments for these studies over the next three years. Thanks to this donation, WKZ will be able to conduct research in the coming years into the effectiveness of a new, combined exploratory operation on babies. The research project will start this year.
Prevention of shortness of breath problems in babies
Esophageal occlusion is a rare birth defect in which babies are missing part of their esophagus. This prevents them from absorbing food and they are rushed to the hospital. In the hospital, the newborn babies receive nutrition through an IV. Then they are operated on as soon as possible. During surgery, the esophagus is reattached to the stomach.
Usually, babies with an oesophageal obstruction also have a flaccid trachea, which causes the trachea to collapse a little. This causes shortness of breath and oxygen deficiency in the newborn babies. In some babies, the shortness of breath worsens after the operation because the trachea collapses even further. This can cause infections and in some cases even life-threatening respiratory distress. Such dangerous cases sometimes require a second, long and risky operation to reattach the back of the trachea to the spinal column, so that the trachea remains open better.
New operation
In 2017, the WKZ developed an exploratory operation to perform these two operations in one go. With the PORTRAIT study, scientists are investigating whether babies develop fewer respiratory problems after this new procedure than babies without the new procedure. If it turns out that the combination of the two operations does indeed work better, babies will no longer have to undergo a second operation with the risk of damage to essential organs. This way the baby gets better basic health and the child has less chance of respiratory problems.
The team coordinating this research consists of Dr MYA Lindeboom, Dr SHAJ Tytgat and Dr AJN Bittermann of the Congenital Esophageal and Airway TEAM of the Wilhemina Children’s Hospital. Other participating hospitals are Erasmus MC Rotterdam, Great Ormond Street Hospital London, Karolinska University Hospital Stockholm and Wroclaw University Hospital.
Friends UMC Utrecht & Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital
These studies can start thanks to the support of the For Wis(h)dom Foundation to Friends UMC Utrecht & Wilhelmina Children’s Hospital, the charity of the (children’s) hospital. Would you like to know more about how you can advance research into new treatments at UMC Utrecht? Look here.
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