As medicine continues to evolve in parallel with evolving technology, another first has been achieved in recent days. At the Center for Cerebrovascular Surgery and Intervention at Boston Children’s Hospital brain surgery for a fetus in the womb for the first time finished.

Surgeons say the surgery could have fatal consequences for the developing brain. ‘vascular malformation’ (vascular anomaly) fixed it. The fetus was only 34 weeks old.

Let’s describe the situation requiring surgical intervention on the fetus:

In the examinations, a vessel with Galen malformation was seen in the fetus. This causes the arteries in the brain to connect directly to the veins instead of going through the capillaries first as they should, to fatal consequences can cause.

What makes the condition deadly is actually the blood pressure. While capillaries take on the task of slowing down blood pressure due to malformation blood flow directly into the veinscan cause extremely high blood pressure.

Due to this situation, especially after birth and postpartum brain and heart, overpressure goes down. This pressure can lead to pulmonary hypertension, heart failure, and other vital conditions.

How did the operation go?

The operation was overseen by the US Food and Drug Administration. Using ultrasound, surgeons reached the operating area in the uterus and fetus, by blocking high-pressure blood vessels prevented the high pressure that would develop during childbirth.

Thanks to this operation, performed a few weeks before birth, the baby was born healthy. From the birth of the baby, the team 6 weeks after that He said that he was in good health and that there was no abnormality in the brain.

What is the meaning of this operation?

All surgeries performed to date for Galen malformation, after the birth of the baby, endangering the birth process had to happen. However, the new surgery showed that this surgery can be performed while still in the womb, indicating that risks such as long-term brain damage, disability or death can be avoided beforehand.