A ground-breaking surgery has been conducted in London, doctors diagnosed a baby with spina bifida, a condition that may result to difficult walking or even paralysis.
The surgery was done at 24 weeks gestation after a routine scan at 20 weeks revealed that the baby’s head was not the right size and the spinal cord was not fully developed.
26-year-old Bethan Simpson and her husband were advised to either undergo a fetal repair surgery, keep the pregnancy as is or terminate it. The couple opted for the surgery.
A team of surgeons from University College London, Great Ormond Street Hospital, along with several Belgian doctors undertook the surgery last year in December.
The surgery entailed removing the baby from the womb to undergo an operation after which it was placed back in the womb to continue developing as normal.
According to the Daily Mail, the surgery is believed to be only the fourth time the operation has been attempted in the UK.
Spina bifida is a birth defect that occurs when the spine and spinal cord don’t form properly.
It falls under the broader category of neural tube defects. The neural tube is the embryonic structure that eventually develops into the baby’s brain and spinal cord and the tissues that enclose them.
Spina bifida can occur in different forms: spina bifida occulta, meningocele (muh-NING-go-seel) or myelomeningocele (my-uh-lo-muh-NING-go-seel). The severity of spina bifida depends on the type, size, location and complications.
Doctors aren’t certain what causes spina bifida. As with many other problems, it appears to result from a combination of genetic and environmental risk factors, such as a family history of neural tube defects and folate deficiency.
The disease can be treated if identified an an early stage.