Surgical techniques are revolutionizing our concepts of what is or is not possible. It is not the first time we talked about fetoscopy, on this page.
Something related to that has happened these days although not exactly the same in the “12 de Octubre” hospital in Madrid where a tumor has been removed from a baby during the birth process.
An ultrasound has been what served to detect a tumor in the neck of the fetus that according to the image study that was done, could significantly impair respiratory capacity after delivery.
A tumor that it has been finally removed on the day of delivery, during the process itself. For obvious reasons it has been treated by birth by caesarean section and maintaining the connection with the mother through the umbilical cord during all the intervention that has lasted that brief period of time in which the fetus becomes a baby and its breathing is suspended.
All the baby remained inside the mother's womb except her small head and upper limbs, so that the tumor could be removed from her neck.
The surgery performed in the hospital October 12 has been the first time that is performed in this hospital, is called "EXIT" and is an extrauterine intrapartum treatment.
Obviously the team that has participated in the treatment has been multidisciplinary with specialists in both maternal and fetal medicine, such as neonatology, pediatric surgery, anesthesiology and nursing.
News like these leads us to think about how tremendously positive the controls are during pregnancy, although sometimes we don't value them as we should
