CLOSE-UP: Olutoye, OAU alumnus who led 21 US doctors in ‘baby born twice’ surgery

Oluyinka Olutoye, an alumnus of the Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU), Ile Ife, is one of the 22 doctors who recently performed a groundbreaking surgery at the Texas Children’s Hospital in the US.

The doctors removed sacrococcygeal teratoma — a rare tumor that appears at the base of a baby’s tailbone — and returned the child to the mother’s womb.

Twelve weeks after that unprecedented operation, the baby was born normally.

According to experts, sacrococcygeal teratoma, which occurs in about one of 40,000 pregnancies, could result to heart failure.

THE SURGERY

Olutoye and Darrel Cass led 20 other doctors to perform the surgery itself, spending majority of the time on making meticulous incisions into the uterus, then carefully pulling out the lower half of the baby’s body.

In the middle of the procedure, the baby’s heart stopped and needed to be restarted; she required a blood transfusion, as well.

“These are babies that are essentially dying,” Olutoye said. “You have a child who’s already sick, and the operation itself can make her sicker.”

After removing about 90 percent of the tumor, surgeons placed the baby’s back into the womb. Closing the uterus proved tricky, as well. The doctors needed to seal the membrane to the uterus, doing it in a watertight fashion that — even after 23 weeks — would continue stretching as the pregnancy progressed.

After about five hours, the surgery was complete.

NOT THE FIRST TIME

Olutoye has made exceptional contributions to the art and science of surgery.

In February 2015, he partook in a 26-hour operation to separate conjoined twins, Knatalye Hope and Adeline Faith Mata.

The twins shared several major organs, including lungs, liver, intestines, colon, pelvis and lining of the heart.

According to Leadership, Olutoye, who bagged his first degree from OAU in 1988, was inducted into the Great Ife Alumni Hall of Distinction 10 years later.

He was the valedictorian in his graduating class at the Obafemi Awolowo University Medical School.

FROM NIGERIA TO US

In 1996, he obtained a PhD in anatomy from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Afterwards, he went on to finish his residency in general surgery at the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals, Virginia Commonwealth University.

He also obtained a fellowship in pediatric surgery at The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University Of Pennsylvania School Of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Certified by the American Board of Surgery, Olutoye is a member of the International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society, a fellow of the Surgical Section of the American Academy of Pediatrics and American College of Surgeons, and a fellow of the West African College of Surgeons.

Some of the professional organisations he belongs to are: International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society, American Academy of Pediatrics –Section on Surgery, Chair – Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Committee, American College of Surgeons, Association for Academic Surgery, International Fetal Medicine and Surgery Society.

Among his awards are: Best Doctors in America, Who’s Who in America, Houston’s Top Docs for Kids, H Texas Magazine, 2007, Academy of Distinguished Educators, Baylor College of Medicine, Molecular Surgeon Research Achievement Award, Michael E. DeBakey Department of Surgery.

The surgeon is married to Olutoyin, also a doctor, and their union is blessed with two children.