Fragile Among Us continued
ANAYA BEATS THE ODDS
Former Scott & White pediatrics resident Tahrin (Tina)
Siddiqua, MD, now living in Houston, TX, and her
husband, Jahangir Kabir, MD, prepared for a planned
labor induction at Scott & White, and were looking
forward to welcoming their daughter, Anaya. As a
pediatrician, Dr. Siddiqua is an expert in caring for a
child. What she was unprepared for was how her own
would come into the world.
As Dr. Siddiqua was being induced on the night of
March 5, 2009, her water broke, accompanied by a
large amount of blood. Kevin Huddleston, MD, Division
of Obstetrics and Gynecology, was immediately called
in to do a Caesarean section in an attempt to save
Anaya’s life. Anaya was born and rushed to the Scott &
White NICU, where Jie Guo, MD, pediatric neonatologist,
was waiting.
Dr. Siddiqua’s caregivers suspected she had experienced
a partial ruptured vasa previa, causing her daughter
to be deprived of oxygen. The neonatal team, led by
Dr. Guo, quickly applied the Olympic™ Cool Cap System,
to slow the deleterious effects on the baby’s brain.
MD, PhD, pediatric neurologists at Scott
& White Healthcare.
The team’s advances are unique, and
Dr. Cipriani envisions even more. The
team recently purchased sophisticated
equipment called a near infrared
spectrometer, which was funded by an
The Olympic™ Cool Cap System is the only FDAapproved technology available for the treatment of
hypoxic-ischemic-encephalopathy (HIE), an interruption
of oxygen supply during birth in full-term infants.
The Cool Cap has advanced touch screen technology,
a cooling unit and a cooling cap made of coils that
circulate soft water around the brain to lower the core
temperature of neonates. Before Cool Cap technology,
almost 20 percent of infants born with HIE died, and
25 percent suffered permanent disability as a result of
brain damage. Up to 9,000 infants each year at Scott &
White can benefit from this amazing technology.
Anaya remained on the system for 72 hours. “It was
really scary, because Anaya had seizures,” says Dr.
Siddiqua. After that period, she had no further seizures
and her brain swelling decreased. After two weeks in
the NICU, Anaya was finally ready to go home, much to
the relief of her parents. So far, Anaya has passed all
of the functional tests of her developmental stages
and has even surpassed the average in many of them.
“I look back on that time now and think, wow, I never
could have planned for Anaya’s arrival that way. Thank
goodness I knew where to turn,” says Dr. Siddiqua.
anonymous donor. It’s non-invasive and
designed to measure the oxygen levels in
babies’ brains, giving physicians fair
warning of developing injury and the need
to treat it quickly. “We can’t achieve the
level of care we provide without
philanthropy—it’s absolutely essential,”
she says. “I’m so excited to see these
advances in my lifetime.” ■
Dr. Cipriani also is an associate professor of
pediatrics, Texas A&M Health Science Center
College of Medicine.
Jaylee Hilliard, RN, BSN, and Lierra Teasley
soothe baby Kobe Teasley in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit.
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