The infant girl, weighing 3.5 kilos, was brought to the hospital last week with a congenital tumour.

Diagnostic imaging showed that the tumour was at risk of blocking an airway, which could lead to respiratory failure.

Dr Phan Minh Trí of the hospital’s General Surgery Ward said that immediate surgery was needed.

The hospital’s doctors planned to divide into two teams, including surgeons specialising in tumours in infants and those specialising in neurosurgery.

Initially, the surgeons specialising in infant tumours decided to remove the tumour on the neck and chin and the neurosurgeons the rest of the tumour.

However, in the surgery room, they discovered the tumour was too large and attached to many nerves. They changed their plan and worked together to operate for around seven hours.

The infant has recovered without a respiratory machine.

Dr Đào Trung Hiếu, the hospital’s deputy head, said the tumour’s spread from the chin to the brain was a rare occurrence. A similar case occurred in the US in 2004.

If an ultrasound had been done while the mother was pregnant, the tumour would have been detected.

However, Lê Hoài Ân, the mother, said that because of financial difficulties she had chosen not to have an ultrasound scan and pregnancy exam near the end of her pregnancy.

VNS