When Erika Muñoz was 34 weeks pregnant, she received devastating news: her unborn daughter, Darleth, had been diagnosed with Vein of Galen malformation, an extremely rare and life-threatening vascular condition affecting blood vessels in the brain.
Today, thanks to the extraordinary efforts of a multidisciplinary team at El Paso Children’s Hospital, Darleth is home with her family after overcoming one of the most complex pediatric cases the hospital has ever treated.
“What it is is basically a large vein inside the head that is taking a lot of the blood from the heart,” said Dr. Ziyad Makoshi, medical director of pediatric neurosurgery at El Paso Children’s Hospital. “The heart is then having to pump additionally, and that is the issue that we run into early on. The heart starts to fail, so our cardiologists are extremely important to help stabilize these kids.”…