Baby makes medical history after operation

A baby born safely after he was diagnosed with a brain haemorrhage while still in the womb has made medical history by being the first child to survive such a condition.

Dylan Harris, described by his parents, David and Vickie, as a "little fighter" underwent brain surgery when he was three-days-old after a routine scan carried out at Arrowe Park Hospital, Wirral showed he had a rare subdural haemorrhage - a blood clot between the brain and skull.

Dylan's diagnosis in the womb, believed to be the earliest recorded, enabled doctors to order a rare magnetic resonance imaging scan which confirmed the clot. Ross Welch, consultant obstetrician, said he had consulted colleagues in London and abroad after spotting the rare clot on the scan.

"There was no doubt in my mind that it was a clot, but it was very difficult to know the best treatment." he said.

Dylan, whose head had swelled dangerously from 8cm to 11cm, was delivered by Caesarean section at 34 weeks and prepared for emergency surgery.

"The worse part was when I had to get him baptised the night before his operation, because we were told he might not pull through," said Mr Harris.

Neurosurgeon Paul May, of Alder Hey Children's Hospital, Liverpool, performed the life-saving craniotomy to drain the clot from Dylan's brain. Glenda Cooper