Surgeons in Spain successfully performed life-saving surgery on a baby as it was dying in its mother's womb.
Gonzalo
Pardo Sanchez was suffering from congenital high airway obstruction
syndrome (Chaos) - a rare condition which was preventing his lungs from
expelling fluid through the trachea and causing his heart to fail.
The
outcome seemed inevitable, until his mother's doctors stumbled across a
potentially life-saving procedure that was yet to prove successful -
until now.
Joy: Doctors in Spain have confirmed Gonzalo,
now 10-months-old and content in his mothers arms, suffered no brain
damage as a result of the risky foetal surgery
Gonzalo survived the procedure and
medics in Spain confirmed yesterday that the baby - now 10 months old -
sustained no brain damage as a result of the operation.
It makes it the world's first successful operation to remove an obstruction of a larynx from a foetus.
Gonzalo's
parents, Maria Jose Sanchez and Francisco Pardo, both 35, told how
doctors had initially advised them to have an abortion when they
discovered their unborn baby was suffering from the rare condition.
Healthy: Surgeons operated on Gonzalo Pardo Sanchez while he was still in his mother's womb
The build up of fluid inside the foetus' body was compressing his heart and causing it to fail.
But
then their doctor in Almeria heard about a team at a Barcelona research
hospital that had performed three operations in a bid to save unborn
babies diagnosed with Chaos.
All three procedures had proved unsuccessful, but nonetheless it was a glimmer of light for Gonzalo's devastated parents.
'We came to Barcelona without any hope,' Mr Pardo told the Times.
'They gave us an option and a chance.'
After finding out about the technique the
couple, from Cartagena, endured a 'difficult' and 'emotional' seven day
wait before Ms Sanchez went into surgery at the Fetal Medicine Centre
Clinic Barcelona.
The team
first manoeuvred the foetus into position inside the uterus - the most
difficult part of the procedure - before three surgeons spent 22 minutes
removing the membrane blocking Gonzalo's larynx.
Eduard
Gratacos, head of the unit in Barcelona, explained surgeons were able
to perforate the membrane 'quite easily', adding that getting access to
the mother's uterus and in turn the baby's trachea was the part loaded
with risk.
'One move a millimetre to the wrong side of the larynx could have caused serious problems,' he said.
In
total the operation has been performed on four other occasions
globally, but in each of those cases the babies either died or suffered
brain damage or serious respiratory problems, the Times report said.
After
receiving Gonzalo's clean bill of health, his emotional parents have
said they are looking forward to enjoying life with their 'fit and
healthy' son.
DAILYMAIL
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