Quadruplet babies born to Kasargod couple, one dies after month long battle

Aysha Tahira and Latheef hailing from kasargod were not blessed with offspring's for many years. After a prolonged period of waiting they were quite happy to come to know that Aysha has conceived. But the happiness did not last for long time as she delivered prematurely four babies in a single birth. Gynecologist Dr Veena Manjunath was surprised to see new babies one after the other.

The parents were informed that the chance of survival of these babies were extremely rare. Quadruplet incidences occur once in 70 lakh births. These babies survival for more than one week is extremely rare especially if they are very premature. Also it is very expensive and life saving support is required in a high tech care center to make them survive.

Dr Yousuf Kumble said that the four babies got admitted at Indiana hospital's NICU on March 11, this year. Team of doctors led by Dr Ali Kumble took it as a challenge and with their effort babies survived since their admission. Financial support was offered by the hospital management as the father was not in a position to support all the four babies.

“What makes our case still more fascinating is that babies being treated here are identical quadruplet which occurs once in every 13 million births. There are only 60 such cases on record worldwide and it is extremely challenging to ensure they survive into infancy especially if they are born premature at 26 weeks of pregnancy and weigh between 500 to 900 grams”, he said.

He said multiple pregnancies are high risk pregnancies and are associated with increased neonatal morbidity and mortality. The frequency of multiple pregnancies has increased in the past 2 decades, mostly as a result of assisted reproductive techniques for infertile couples.

The average period of gestation in quadruplet pregnancy is 31.2 weeks and the average weight is 1.362 kg as per the literature available. In this case the period of gestation was only 26 weeks and the weights being 900 grams for the first two and 580 grams for the other two offspring, the average weight being only 740 grams, perhaps the first such case of preterm identical quadruplets that goes on record in India, he said.

Dr Kumble said the babies pose serious challenges to both the pediatricians and the family, right from ensuring their survival to the many complications they may develop during their course of hospital stay. “We need to ensure they maintain a normal breathing pattern and tolerate the feed given ok them. Strict hygiene and sanitation to avoid sepsis is a benchmark for ensuring survival of such extremely low birth weight babies. That is why handling and care is undertaken by skilled and experienced nurses assigned specifically for this role”, he said.

“We have taken utmost caution in providing only the mother's milk to the newborns. They have now entered the fourth week of life when chances of intolerance to feeds are high. Survival of such babies beyond the first four weeks of life greatly improves the clinical outcome”, he said.