Hyderabad: In a ground-breaking experimental surgery, doctors at Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital treated an unborn child from a rare blood vessel condition in the brain. The first-of-its-kind surgery saved the life of the unborn baby girl, who is now a healthy seven-week-old.
While in the womb, the girl developed a condition which led to a pool of blood in a 14-millimetre-wide area in her brain. The rare condition is known as "Venus of Galen malformation", which could have caused brain damage, heart problems, and breathing difficulties after birth in the child. In Venus of Galen malformation, the blood vessel that carries blood from the brain to the heart doesn't develop properly, due to which an excessive amount of blood stresses the veins and the heart.
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The condition of the baby was first noticed in a routine ultrasound scan during 30 weeks of pregnancy. Afraid of the fatal outcomes of the condition, the baby's parents signed up for a clinical trial of an in-utero surgical treatment to see if doctors could provide a solution. A team of doctors at Boston Children's Hospital and the Brigham and Women's Hospital were able to treat her malformation while she was still in the uterus at 34 weeks of pregnancy.
With the help of ultrasound guidance, needles similar to the ones used for amniocentesis (A procedure used to take out a sample of fluid that protects a fetus from injuries), and tiny coils placed directly in the abnormal blood vessels to stop blood flow, doctors were able to treat the fetus successfully. Due to the success of this experimental surgery, doctors believe that more fetuses can be treated the same way for several brain conditions, and the future lies with fetal surgery.
