Telethon 2023: Donor’s bedside ultrasound machine helping PCH clinicians keep newborn babies alive

With her heart failing to move precious oxygen around her tiny body, doctors caring for little Reia Jani began to seriously consider bypass surgery.

The complex procedure is almost unthinkable for a baby just a few hours old but Reia’s heart was under immense stress.

Born weighing 3.35kg at St John of God Hospital in Mount Lawley on September 29, mum Dimi Jani was offered just moments with her second-born child after things took a turn.

After lying on her mum’s chest for a minute, doctors quickly realised Reia had swallowed meconium – a newborn’s first bowel movement.

Swallowing the meconium meant Reia’s lungs were blocked, meaning she needed to be urgently transferred to Perth Children’s Hospital for specialist care.

“Because she wasn’t crying she was taken away very quickly,” Mrs Jani said.

“So my husband went along with her to the special care (nursery).”

Mrs Jani hoped the procedure would be quick.

“We thought it was simple, they would get the meconium out of her lungs and she would come back into the room pretty quickly,” she said.

“But then the next step was to send her down to PCH for overnight observation.”

While it was an isolating night without her husband or newborn by her side, Mrs Jani said she held onto hope that the next day Reia would be back with her.

“The next day we got a call from PCH saying that she was actually really unwell and her situation had deteriorated from the night before,” she said.

“We were called to come in as soon as we could.

“We showed up at PCH and very quickly we saw she was hooked up to so many different monitors and her oxygen saturation was really low.”

The parents met with a heart surgeon who prepared them for the realities their daughter would face on the operating table where doctors would pump blood outside of her body and remove any carbon dioxide.

“If she didn’t come out of that procedure and have a positive outcome that means they have to turn off everything and we would lose her,” Mrs Jani said.

It’s the worst thing that as parents you could hear.

“We had to sign forms and hope for the best… I remember feeling devastated.”

However in a remarkable development, little Reia’s oxygen saturation began to improve and she managed to avoid the risky procedure altogether.

Integral to her care in those critical hours after her birth was the use of a cardiovascular ultrasound machine, gifted to the hospital by a Telethon donor.

The bedside ultrasound machine allows neonatal intensive care specialists to examine the organs of critically unwell babies who require urgent lifesaving intervention.

PCH Neonatologist Consultant Dr Dimple Goel cared for Reia in the first days of her life.

She said the equipment used to monitor Reia’s condition could diagnose, give treatment and see whether medical intervention had made a difference to patients.

“The utility of this equipment is beyond now,” she said.

“It is something long term and it is something valuable.

“Any time of the day we don’t have to wait, you can use it at 1.30 in the night when you have to make a decision about a child who is dying in front of you.”

Dr Goel now trains neonatal intensive care doctors at PCH in how to use the machine to increase its use throughout the facility.

“Across the world many neonatal and intensive care doctors are doing this training because of its use and need,” Dr Goel said.

“It’s really important in a newborn setting.”

After almost a month in PCH, Reia is finally on the mend.

She was transferred back to Mount Lawley on Wednesday and was able to bond with her parents and meet her big sister Kaia.

Mrs Jani praised the nurses and doctors at PCH, adding the equipment would undoubtedly help all the other babies just like hers.