El Paso Baby Receiving Treatment For Head Swollen Twice Its Size

An 11-month old from El Paso is in San Antonio recovering from emergency surgery after the baby’s head swelled to nearly twice the normal size.

“Baby Klaus,” as he’s being called, is suffering from something called hydrocephalus, or a buildup of excess fluid in the brain. It’s a condition that can require the expertise of a pediatric neurosurgeon, which the Borderland does not have.

“It is nothing like I’ve ever seen before,” San Antonio pediatric neurosurgeon Dr. David Jimenez said. “He’s doing much better ever since he arrived in the hospital over a week ago.”

Dr. Jimenez inserted a tube in “Baby Klaus’s” head to drain the fluid and relieve the pressure.

“My hope is that he is going to be as normal as we can possibly get him,” Dr. Jimenez said. “You never give up on a baby’s brain … Never.”

In their search for help, “Baby Klaus’s,” parents, identified only as Klaus Sr., and Beatrice, took their son to San Antonio last week.

“There’s definitely a need here for a pediatric neurosurgeon,” El Paso board certified neurosurgeon Dr. George Martin said. “There’s a large population of 750,000 people in the county that definitely fills the need for a pediatric neurosurgeon.”

Dr. martin, a native of New York who opened his practice here two years ago, said it’s just a matter of time before El Paso gets one. Until that happens, he said, cases of hydrocephalus not caught in the first month of a baby’s life are better off being treated elsewhere.

“Because his head is so large, he may need a plastic surgeon to do a cranial facial reconstruction of the skull,” Dr. Martin said. “It’s a very, very complex procedure.”

When the problem is caught early, Dr. martin said it’s a much simpler to control.

“There’s hundreds of kid running around here in El Paso that have a shunt in their head, which is the treatment for hydrocephalus,” Dr. Martin said, “and you can’t tell the difference between them or anyone else on the soccer field.”

Catching hydrocephalus early is the key, he said. Dr. Martin emphasized the importance of follow-up checkups after taking a baby home from the hospital.

As for “Baby Klaus,” his condition has stabilized and his head is already nearly a foot smaller. But it remains unknown whether he will suffer any loss of sight or hearing or be disfigured or disabled.