AIIMS Delhi doctors successfully operate on heart of unborn baby
Doctors at AIIMS Delhi have successfully performed a risky surgery on the heart of an unborn baby. Called balloon dilation, the procedure was done on a grape-sized baby's heart in the womb. The child had a heart condition, but since the parents wanted to keep the baby, they went ahead with the procedure.
The 28-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital with three previous pregnancy losses. With the hope to improve the condition of the baby, the mother underwent the procedure at the Cardiothoracic Sciences Centre, AIIMS. The team of interventional cardiologists and fetal medicine specialists performed a successful procedure.
The team of doctors involved in the procedure said that both the mother and the unborn foetus are doing fine.
"The foetus and the mother are both doing well after the procedure. The teams of doctors are monitoring the growth of the heart chambers to ultimately determine the baby's future management."
"Some types of serious heart diseases can be diagnosed while the baby is in the mother's womb. Sometimes, treating them in the womb may improve the outlook for the baby after birth and lead to near normal development," the team further said.
While performing balloon dilation, ultrasound was used as guidance. "We placed a needle through the mother's abdomen into the baby's heart. Then, using a balloon catheter, we opened the obstructed valve to improve blood flow. We expect and hope that the baby's heart will develop better and the heart disease will be less severe at birth," explained the senior doctor who performed the surgery.
The doctor said that such a heart surgery is extremely risky and can prove fatal to the life of the foetus. He said, "It has to be done very quickly because you're going to puncture the major heart chamber. So if something goes wrong, the baby will die. It has to be very quick, shoot and dilate and come out."
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