Complex surgery performed on unborn baby

In China, doctors successfully removed a 5-centimeter tumor in the lung of an unborn baby using a special needle. This procedure helped save the fetus's life. This was reported by the South China Morning Post.

As noted, a medical team consisting of doctors from Shenzhen and Hong Kong decided to perform the surgery after abnormal development of lung tissue—known as CPAM—was detected in the 22-week fetus of a 40-year-old woman.

During examinations, it was revealed that the tumor occupied almost the entire right chest cavity of the fetus. It exerted severe pressure on the heart and lungs. In addition, fluid had accumulated in the fetus's abdominal cavity.

Usually, in such cases, doctors use methods to drain the accumulated fluid in the abdominal cavity or block the main blood vessel supplying the tumor. However, in this case, the tumor consisted of numerous small cysts and lacked a central blood vessel. Therefore, standard treatment methods would not have yielded the expected results.

Following this, the medical team decided to apply a different, more complex method. Under high-precision real-time ultrasound guidance, a special ablation needle was guided through the mother's abdomen, uterine wall, and the fetus's chest wall directly to the center of the tumor.

Then, microwave technology was activated through the special needle, destroying the tumor tissue from the inside using high heat. The active heating process lasted only two minutes. During this time, the doctors closely monitored the procedure to ensure no damage was done to the fetus's healthy organs.

Just three days after the surgery, examinations revealed that the size of the tumor had significantly decreased. At the same time, the fluid accumulated in the fetus's abdominal cavity had also disappeared.

Subsequently, the pregnancy progressed successfully. At the 37th week of pregnancy, the baby was born via Caesarean section. Her birth weight was 2.9 kilograms. The newborn was rated with the highest score of 10 on the Apgar scale.

It was reported that when the baby was four months old, she felt well and showed no symptoms of any disease. Furthermore, there was no need for any additional surgical procedures.

Doctors emphasize that this successful procedure is an important milestone in the field of maternal-fetal medicine and may usher in a new stage in this direction.