Belgian doctors played a vital role in a pioneering operation to correct a severe intestinal defect on an unborn baby while he was still inside his mother’s womb.
Maisie Savage, 29, from London, was told by doctors when she was 20 weeks pregnant that her son had a serious birth defect called gastroschisis, a condition which causes a baby’s intestines to develop outside the body.
Such a diagnosis would usually result in multiple surgeries and months in neonatal intensive care. In more complex cases, a child might need a full intestinal transplant. It can be fatal: one in 10 babies diagnosed with the condition will die.
But Savage was offered the chance to participate in a ground-breaking trial in the US, allowing the defect to be fixed while her baby was still in the womb. By intervening early, the risk of complications linked to the condition after birth are dramatically reduced.
To prepare her body for the operation, Savage first had to make the trip across the Channel to Belgium. Doctors at UZ Leuven gave her a Botox injection through her womb into her baby’s abdominal wall in order to relax his muscles and facilitate the repair.
She then travelled to Texas, where the operation was performed 26 weeks into her pregnancy in November last year.
Surgeons made an incision into her abdomen, partially exposing the unborn baby. After draining the amniotic fluid and replacing it with carbon dioxide gas to give surgeons room to operate, they used keyhole surgery to repair the baby’s intestines.
Following the operation, the baby continued to grow inside her for a further 14 weeks until he was born by vaginal delivery in February.
Baby Theo saw the light of day at Texas Children’s Hospital, where medics said they were delighted with the results of the operation.
The family have since returned home to London, where Theo, who is now aged five months, is thriving.
“He’s a little miracle, isn’t he?” Savage told the BBC, adding that the surgery had “completely reversed what could have been a really horrible start to life”. She said: “He’s feeding like a normal baby, growing like a normal baby.”
The technique used on Theo and his mother mirrors procedures used to treat spina bifida, where doctors operate to close spinal gaps, while babies are still in the womb – typically between 19 and 26 weeks of gestation.
