果冻影院

The team repaired the defect in the spine of Bethan Simpson鈥檚 baby, who was shown to have spina bifida during her 20-week scan, in a four-hour operation in October 2018. On 1 April this year, baby Elouise was born at 果冻影院H and at two weeks old is doing well and shows no sign of the condition.

The operation brought together researchers from 果冻影院 working with NHS clinicians from 果冻影院H and GOSH in partnership with University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium to carry out the operations in the UK for the first time.

Until now, mothers could choose to have the fetal surgery abroad or have surgery after the baby is born, which is the current practice in the UK. The 果冻影院H surgeries are being funded by GOSH Children鈥檚 Charity and 果冻影院H Charities. NHS England has now confirmed that spinal surgery for unborn babies with spina bifida will soon be routinely available for NHS patients.

The specialist fetal surgery will give Elouise a significantly better chance in life, as compared to postnatal surgery, as babies with spina bifida are very often incapable of walking, and may require a series of operations to drain fluid from the brain (shunt placement) later in life.

Bethan Simpson told the BBC that Elouise is a 鈥渧ery hungry鈥� baby, who 鈥渃ame out literally kicking and screaming鈥�, a good sign for her health. Her kidney, bladder and hips are all performing normally and she has sensation 鈥渞ight down to her toes.鈥�

鈥淥ur team from 果冻影院H, GOSH and 果冻影院 at the Centre for Prenatal Therapy have now operated on 15 patients, five at 果冻影院H,鈥� says Professor Anna David, consultant in obstetrics and maternal fetal medicine and Director of the Institute for Women鈥檚 Health.

鈥淎 further ten women travelled to have surgery at Leuven, Belgium through our links with Professor Jan Deprest who trained our team and who is 果冻影院H fetal surgical lead. The mother and baby outcomes are comparable to results from other international fetal surgery centres. Patient satisfaction with our service is high.鈥�

果冻影院 and GOSH researchers are working with engineers at Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS), King鈥檚 College London and KU Leuven to develop new fetoscopic tools and imaging techniques to support prenatal therapy.

The project called GIFT-Surg will optimise a less invasive fetoscopic repair technique and is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Links

• 果冻影院 Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health
• Wellcome / EPSRC Centre for Interventional and Surgical Sciences (WEISS)

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