The Girl Who Was “Born” Twice
CBS News reports the case of prenatal surgery done on a baby in the womb with a tumor growing on the tailbone – a rare and potentially fatal condition. The family found Texas Children’s Fetal Center on the Internet – one of only a handful of hospitals in the world performing prenatal surgery.
After surgery, freeing the baby of the tumor, she was placed back in the womb, where she recovered and grew for a record 10 more weeks. Aside from this scar on her backside, Macie is a strong newborn with a healthy future.
Surgeons Operate On, Save Leg of Baby in Womb
Fox News is reporting a second case where Australian surgeons are being credited for saving the leg of an unborn baby by operating on her while her mother was just 22 weeks pregnant – possibly the earliest in utero surgery of its kind.
Baby Leah was diagnosed with a condition called amniotic band syndrome in which bands of tissue wrap themselves around a developing fetus’ limbs, hands or feet and cut off blood flow. Doctors say the tissue had wrapped around both Leah’s legs.
To operate, surgeons pierced the mother’s abdomen with a two-millimeter or 0.08-inch thick telescopic needle to allow them to apply laser and electric current to cut the band.
Leah was born in January and doctors now believe that she will be able to walk.
My Take?
These stories are truly representative of the miracles of modern medicine.