A fetus was operated on in its mother’s womb for a rare abnormality of the blood vessels in the brain, called an aneurysmal malformation of the vein of Galen.
- A baby was operated on while he was still in his mother’s womb.
- He suffered from a rare abnormality of the blood vessels in the brain, called an aneurysmal malformation of the vein of Galen.
- The success of this operation is a world first.
It’s a clinical trial that saved a little girl’s life, even before she was born. In the United States, in Boston, a fetus suffering from a rare anomaly of the blood vessels, called an aneurysmal malformation of the vein of Galen, was operated on on the brain in the womb of his mother. Without this operation, there was a risk that the baby would suffer from heart failure or a brain defect.
Operation in utero: an anomaly of the blood vessels of the brain
While the pregnancy of Kenyatta Coleman, a 36-year-old woman pregnant for the fourth time, was going well, everything changed at the 30th week of pregnancy. During a check-up, her gynecologist told her “that she was worried that something was wrong with the baby’s brain, and that her heart was enlarged”, explained Kenyatta Coleman to CNN.
The pathology from which the fetus suffered was an aneurysmal malformation of the vein of Galen, located in the central part of the brain. It is an abnormality of the blood vessels, more precisely of the capillary network which normally distributes oxygen in the brain. When a fetus is affected by this anomaly, it creates “a short circuit between arteries and veins”. “50-60% of babies with this anomaly become very sick immediately after birth. one of the doctors at Boston Children’s Hospital told CNN. About 40% of these children die.”
Galen’s vein: the intervention was a success
The practitioners offered two options to the parents: not to intervene or to participate in a clinical trial which consisted of performing an operation, never performed before, on the fetus while it was still in the mother’s womb. They chose surgery, which took place last March. In detail, the doctors immobilized the baby and introduced a catheter – that is to say a long tube – into Galen’s vein.
Result: the operation is a success! The scans showed an immediate improvement in the baby’s condition. Two weeks later the baby girl was born, there were no complications and she is fine. For the moment, no treatment is recommended in the short or medium term. “We hope she won’t need it in the future,” said Dr. Louise Wilkins-Haug, director of the division of maternal-fetal medicine and reproductive genetics at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston.