Surgeons Conduct First Australian In-Utero Spina Bifida Operation

An Australian hospital is celebrating an incredible achievement in spinal surgery by treating a baby diagnosed with spina bifida while it was still in the womb.

A team of 40 doctors and nurses from Queensland’s Mater Hospital and Vanderbilt University Hospital in the US carried out the in-utero operation in Brisbane on Saturday. This is a first for Australian surgeons.

It was performed on a  24-week-old foetus diagnosed with spina bifida, a serious birth defect that prevents the spine and spinal cord from developing normally, which can lead to paralysis and other complications. It is normally treated with surgery once a baby is born.

Director of Mater’s maternal-foetal medicine, Glenn Gardener, said that the surgery was not a cure for spina bifida, but it aims to significantly improve the outcome for babies diagnosed with the condition.

Under anaesthesia, the procedure involves cutting the uterus from the mother’s stomach, which is then turned, and an incision made. Fluid is then inserted so the foetus floats to the top of the uterus, exposing the area containing spina bifida. Doctors then repair the wound and stitch the uterus back up.

Dr Gardener said the surgery went well and both mother and baby were in stable condition.

Dr Jay Wellons told the ABC the procedure can only be performed when the pregnancy is between 22 and 25 weeks, but it was considered high-risk. “The risk, lets face it, is death. But this is where we work, on the edge of death, on the edge of risk,” he said.

Sources: Dailymail.co.uk, Kidspot.com.au and 9news.com.au