Fetal surgery helps baby with gastroschisis leave hospital in four days

Doctors have performed surgery on a fetus with the rare birth defect gastroschisis for the third time, allowing a baby named Theo to leave hospital just four days after birth, SVT reports.

Gastroschisis occurs when the intestines develop outside the body through an opening in the abdominal wall. During Theo’s mother’s pregnancy, doctors discovered the condition and operated on the fetus at 26 weeks at Texas Children’s Hospital in the United States.

Using small instruments, the doctors moved the intestines back into the abdominal cavity.

According to the doctors behind the treatment, the method could help some children avoid several operations after birth and lengthy hospital stays. The procedure was performed as part of a clinical study in the United States. Three fetuses have so far undergone the operation, and researchers will follow the children to assess its safety and long term results.

Theo is now five months old. Professor Paolo de Coppi, a paediatric surgeon, told the BBC that the treatment could make a significant difference for families who can take their newborn home soon after birth.

Michael Belfort, who led the study, said the uterus had become a new area for surgical innovation. He told the BBC that some heart and lung operations could eventually be performed on fetuses before birth.

Swedish expert says treatment is not suitable in Sweden

Peter Conner, head of fetal medicine at Karolinska University Hospital, welcomed the research but stressed that fetal surgery carries risks for both the woman and the pregnancy.

Because it is not possible to determine early on which fetuses will develop a complicated condition, many could face the risks without benefiting from the treatment, he said. Conner described that as unreasonable, while noting that the development of new methods could prove useful for other conditions.

Gastroschisis affects about one in 4,000 newborns. Around six children a year are born with the diagnosis at Karolinska University Hospital.

Conner said current treatment produces good results. Children are operated on after birth, survival is above 95 percent and more than 90 percent have an uncomplicated course. Hospital stays are normally less than four weeks, considerably shorter than in severe cases in the past.