World-first brain surgery for unborn baby

A baby diagnosed with a fatal brain condition is now reported to be doing “fantastically well” after receiving pioneering in-womb surgery at 34 weeks.

Mum Kenyatta Coleman was told at a 30-week scan that her unborn daughter Denver had vein of Galen malformation (VGM), where an undeveloped blood vessel from the brain to the heart often causes immediate heart failure after birth.

But following in-womb surgery performed by doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts, Denver was born weighing 4 lb 2 oz and is now over six weeks old.

‘Paradigm shift’

Mum Kenyatta reflected: “I heard her cry for the first time and that just, I can’t even put into words how I felt at that moment. She’s shown us from the very beginning that she was a fighter.”

Dr Darren Orbach said that babies born with the condition typically require “medications to support their heart function, and it’s a really high mortality and high morbidity situation for a long time”.

But in contrast, he said Denver hasn’t required a breathing tube or “any medication to support her heart”, and after gaining enough weight to return home she is doing “fantastically well”.

Although it is only the first trial of the surgery, Dr Orbach said it has “the potential to mark a paradigm shift in managing vein of Galen malformation”, which “may markedly reduce the risk of long-term brain damage, disability or death among these infants”.

‘Amazing’

Last month, it was revealed that a baby girl who was given just 48 hours to live returned home at two-years-old.

Mum Leanne was told at 20 weeks that her daughter had four severe heart defects and a large hole between her heart chambers. Just three months after birth, doctors gave baby Hope just 48 hours to live after suffering spasms like “mini heart attacks” followed by a cardiac arrest.

But after undergoing a total of three heart surgeries since birth, Leanne said: “To see Hope now is amazing. She has been through so much but is getting stronger every day.”