The Sant Joan de Déu Hospital and the Clínic in Barcelona successfully operated on a 700-gram fetus at 28 weeks gestation to reposition its intestine. The pioneering European procedure allowed baby Thiago to be born healthy at 34 weeks.
The surgery took place on February 10 under the BCN Natal program. Doctors first injected botulinum toxin to relax the fetus's abdomen and, fifteen days later, repositioned the intestine via laparoscopy under general anesthesia for the mother.
Thiago, son of 20-year-old Camila Molina, weighed four kilos two months after birth and feeds normally. The malformation, detected at 20 weeks, affects two to three in 10,000 babies.
Specialists Eduard Gratacós, Xavier Tarrado and Josep María Martínez stressed the complexity of the two-and-a-half-hour procedure. “Any erroneous maneuver can cause cardiac arrest,” Gratacós warned.
Until now, such cases were treated only after birth. The operation had been performed only a few times in the United States and Colombia.