A surgical equipment by more than thirty hospital professionals The Faith of Valencia has successfully intervened in a Baby that was still pregnant to remove a heart tumor that was risked his life and that of the mother, in first operation of its kind which takes place in Spain. It was about one rare heart tumor known as Pericardial teratoma diagnosed in the 24th week of pregnancy (five and a half months) and who behaved aggressiveThis compresses the heart and neighboring structures, endangering the life of the baby and also the mother, as the Ministry of Health explained this Monday.
Given the complexity of the situation a comprehensive monitoring of pregnancy for the commission of fetal malformations by a multidisciplinary group consisting of specialists in obstetrics, neonatology, genetics, surgery, cardiology, neurology and pediatric radiology. This committee initially decided a intrauterine management with the use of techniques by obstetricians to relieve the compression of the tumor so that the baby can reach the week of pregnancy and avoid premature birth.
Two complete surgical teams took part
At the 28th week of pregnancy (six and a half months) the decision was made due to the extreme severity Remove the baby via cesarean sectionweighs only 900 grams. The complexity of the procedure arises from the fact that due to the characteristics of the tumor the The patient could die immediately After cutting the umbilical cord that attached it to the mother, it had to remain attached to the placenta while the patient was stabilized and the surgical procedure began, using the EXIT (Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment) technique, as recommended by the director explains the Department of Neonatology, Raquel Escrig.
More than thirty professionals including two complete surgical teams, one for the mother and the second for the baby, took part in the study and testing of surgical procedures using clinical simulation. This enabled the girl to be kept alive after the cesarean section Placental support that his mother cared for him and allowed him to be intubated before the umbilical cord was clamped and his immediate surgical intervention to remove the tumor that was endangering his life. The patient required a repeat operation two months later to remove remnants of the regrown tumor.
After that and two cycles of chemotherapy in pediatric oncology, the baby is free of the disease. According to the head of La Fe Hospital, José Luis Poveda, “the coordination and experience of our hospital’s professionals were the key to the success of this operation.” “It was a very complex challenge that represented a fundamental milestone in the treatment of cardiac tumors in premature babies represents.”
