A team of doctors in the US has carried out the first successful in-womb brain surgery on a foetus for the rare illness called vein of Galen malformation (VOGM). Expected to reportedly save the lives of up to 12 British babies annually suffering from VOGM, current treatments for the condition are only offered after birth. The surgery was performed at the Boston Children’s Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts, where surgeons removed a vessel that was diverting blood away from a baby’s lungs and towards the malformation. Using ultrasound guidance, the team then injected a substance blocking the flow back to the veins into the affected arteries of the baby’s brain.
The procedure marked the first time an in-womb surgery has been used for the treatment of VOGM. The clinical trial is overseen by the US Food and Drug Administration, and the operation was performed on the mother when the foetus was 34 weeks and two days old. The operation was also the first time that an in-womb surgery was used for the repair of this potential deadly, prenatal condition.
The medical first described as “pioneering work” by the medical community, was successful, with Denver, the unborn baby in question, delivered with no defects two days after the intervention. Denver’s mother, Kenyatta, had agreed to participate in the clinical trial when she learned about the trial being run by Boston Children’s Hospital. According to the lead author of a study about the medical first, published in the journal Stroke, the baby completed a six-week follow-up after the surgery and was found to be “progressing remarkably well, on no medication, eating normally, gaining weight and is back home.”
Investigating an illness called vein of Galen malformation (VOGM), the team of ten medics used ultrasound guidance to access the arteries in the baby’s brain, which were affected by the condition, causing blood vessels to bypass capillaries and potentially causing brain damage. The medical professionals then injected a substance into the vessels to block the flow back into the veins, while monitoring the unborn baby’s safety throughout the intervention. The success rate of the procedure had reportedly exceeded expectations.
This medical breakthrough leads the way for further in-womb surgeries, potentially saving the lives of many more infants in the future. Although such interventions pose a considerable risk to the unborn child and the mother, the medical community now has a new option to explore where other treatments are not viable, or post-birth interventions are too late.
While this advancement is a promising sign for the future of medical development, the risks surrounding this kind of surgery also deserve attention. Nonetheless, it is an extraordinary achievement by medical professionals to have been able to use in-womb surgery to successfully treat a prenatal illness.
