In a first, US doctors perform complex brain surgery on baby inside mother's womb

UIS doctors broke ground after successfully operating on a child’s brain from inside the mother’s womb. The life-saving operation has been executed for first time in the world in Boston.

The unborn child’s lethal vascular disease was treated by US medical professionals, preventing heart failure and stroke shortly after delivery.

In utero brain surgery has been performed before, but not for the uncommon condition known as a Vein of Galen malformation, according to reports.

At 34 weeks pregnant, they operated on the woman, using ultrasound to direct the treatment. “We were thrilled to see that the aggressive decline typically seen after birth simply did not appear,” stated Dr. Darren Orbach of Boston Children’s Hospital.

“We are happy to announce that the baby is doing extremely well at six weeks, isn’t taking any medicine, is eating properly, is gaining weight, and is back at home.

“There are no indications that the brain is being negatively affected,” he said.

Every year, 10 to 12 British babies are born with vein of Galen malformation (VOGM), which can cause the infants to not live past the first few days.

It results in the brain’s arteries draining blood directly into the veins rather than through capillaries, overwhelming the heart and harming the brain.

Current therapies are only available after a kid is born, by which time most brain damage has already taken place.

The new method, which was described in the medical journal Stroke, tries to treat the problem before it has an effect on the unborn child.

How was the surgery performed?

In order to reach the area of the baby’s brain where the arteries were compromised, a group of ten medical professionals used ultrasonography to guide a long needle into the mother’s abdomen.

The flow back into the veins was then stopped by injecting a little chemical into the channel.

This method may herald a paradigm shift in the treatment of vein of Galen deformity, according to Dr. Orbach.

“Instead of attempting to correct the deformity after delivery, we fix it before birth and prevent heart failure from happening.

This could significantly lower the infants’ risk of developing long-term brain damage, disability, or death.

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