Faridabad, Dec 13 (IANS): A four-day-old baby girl suffering a rare disorder -- Thornwaldt's Cyst (TC) in the nasopharynx -- was successfully treated at the Asian Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) here, a doctor said Tuesday.

The infant who was born Nov 27 with TC, an abnormality which developed during the growth of the foetus in the mother's uterus, underwent surgery Dec 1 by a team of doctors at AIMS.

According to doctors, TC is an abnormal ingrowth of the lining of the nasopharynx (the area behind the nose) that results in a cyst where the sac is filled with fluid in the soft tissue of the nasopharynx. Some of these cysts drain on their own and some do not.

"When the cysts do not drain, they may create symptoms such as pressure, headaches and ear congestion. The girl had developed breathing difficulties, her oxygen levels were falling and she was not even able to swallow milk," said senior ENT consultant Lalit Mohan Parasher.

Doctors said the process for this kind of surgery is very complex as the cyst was a rare occurrence even in adults.

A team of doctors conducting several tests on the infant initially were not able to identify the cause of the baby's inability to breathe normally while being fed.

"This was a complicated case as the diagnosis was unclear and time was running out for the baby. The very procedure to investigate and conduct a diagnosis on the four-day-old was challenging as she was delicate and her immunity levels were low," the doctor said.

As per the surgeons, operating on the infant was "akin to conducting surgery on a mouse".

"Taking utmost precautions, with just 4-5 ml blood loss and within 28 minutes we operated the cyst which was large and infected and which caused respiratory obstruction to the child," the doctor added.