Photo: American Heart Association
Doctors have repaired a malformation in the brain of a 34-week-old fetus.
TheAmerican Heart Associationshared news of the groundbreaking procedure through apress releaseon Thursday, stating that the surgery was done as part of a clinical trial that is currently underway at the Boston Children’s Hospital and Boston’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital. The surgery treats the vein of Galen malformation in the brain.
According to the AHA, the malformation is a rare prenatal condition in which arteries “bringing high-flow, high-pressure blood to the brain from the heart connect directly with one of the main collecting veins deep at the base of the brain, rather than to capillaries that are necessary to slow blood flow and deliver oxygen to surrounding brain tissue.”
“In our ongoing clinical trial, we are using ultrasound-guided transuterine embolization to address the vein of Galen malformation before birth, and in our first treated case, we were thrilled to see that the aggressive decline usually seen after birth simply did not appear,” explained Darren B. Orbach, M.D., Ph.D., co-director of the Cerebrovascular Surgery & Interventions Center at Boston Children’s Hospital in a statement.
“We are pleased to report that at six weeks, the infant is progressing remarkably well, on no medications, eating normally, gaining weight, and is back home. There are no signs of any negative effects on the brain,” he added.
“I heard her cry for the first time, and that just, I – I can’t even put into words how I felt at that moment. It was just, you know, the most beautiful moment being able to hold her, gaze up on her and then hear her cry,” her mother, Kenyatta Coleman of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, told the outlet.
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The outlet reports that the toddler continues to show no need for additional intervention and is not taking any medication for heart failure.
source: people.com
