Amrita hospital achieves another land mark in foetal surgery

Intra-uterine procedure to block blood supply to a foetal tumour saves mother, child

Doctors at the Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS), Kochi achieved significant breakthrough by successfully operating a pregnant lady’s foetus and saving the unborn child.

The 21 week pregnant lady’s foetus had a giant tumour in the right lung that was pressing on its heart and the normal left lung. The foetus had developed heart failure and if not treated on time would have died. The mother too would have had to deal with problems known as ‘mirror syndrome’. If allowed to progress, the foetal problem would have put the lives of both the mother and baby at risk.

Doctors at the AIMS, Kochi, led by  Paediatric surgeon Dr. Mohan Abraham, foetal medicine consultant Dr. Vivek Krishnan, foetal anaesthetist Dr. Rekha Varghese and Gynecologist Dr.Sarala Sreedhar performed a rare intra-uterine foetal procedure to block the blood supply to this tumour using laser therapy. Following the intervention, the baby is doing fine with the tumour shrinking to half its volume in one week and the heart failure almost completely resolved and pregnancy is continuing.

This procedure is a major milestone in the treatment of the congenital problems before birth.