According to CNN, an American medical team has treated a baby still in the womb using ground-breaking brain surgery to address a rare blood artery abnormality inside the brain. The Brain Surgery was done at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Boston Children’s Hospital to treat the “Venus of Galen malformation,” a rare brain disorder.
What is the Disorder?
The disorder is brought on by improper development of the blood artery that transports blood from the brain to the heart. According to the news source, the deformity causes an excessive amount of blood to flow through the veins and heart, stressing them and potentially causing a chain reaction of health issues.
According to Dr. Darren Orbach, a radiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital who specializes in treating VOGM, “tremendous brain injuries and immediate heart failure after birth are the two big challenges.” He described the issue in detail, stating that it is normal practice to treat newborns by inserting tiny coils through a catheter to reduce blood flow. The remedy, however, frequently comes too late.
Brigham and Women’s doctors perform first-ever brain surgery on a baby still in the womb
Any Possible Side Effects?
Despite improvements in care, 50 to 60 percent of infants with this disease will become gravely ill right away. And it appears that the death rate for such is around 40%. According to Orbach, significant neurological and cognitive problems affect almost half of infants who survive.
According to CBS News about Brain Surgery, when physicians found Baby Denver’s unusual blood artery issue during a routine ultrasound, she was developing properly within her mother. With this illness, many infants get heart failure or brain damage and frequently pass away. Denver’s heart was actually having trouble, and the abnormality was growing to hazardous proportions.
So in, using ultrasound guidance, an amniocentesis-style needle, and tiny coils placed directly into the abnormal blood vessels to stop blood flow, a team from Boston Children’s and the Brigham was able to correct her malformation while she was still inside the uterus at 34 weeks of pregnancy.
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