Anytime I am teaching a class, talking about congenital heart defects, I always talk about a unique patient that I had many years ago.
I was once dispatched to transport a two year old girl who was having cardiac issues. When I arrived on scene, I found an unresponsive little girl, whose mother was doing CPR. After stabilizing the child, I was talking to her mom, trying to get some important information about what was happening. The mom told me that when she was pregnant with the little girl, diagnostic imaging revealed that the fetus was in a third degree heart block, meaning that her heart was beating much slower and more irregular than it should be. At the time, her doctors were worried that the child would have serious neurological deficits, if she survived at all.
So, while mom was still pregnant, specialized pediatric cardiologists operated on the little girl, while she was still in the womb. During this operation, they placed a pacemaker in the fetus. A few months later the baby was born via cesarean section, and she immediately needed another operation to place a new pacemaker. Over the weeks, months, and years, the little girl was growing and developing, causing the wires of the pacemaker to no longer be in the correct locations, causing the little girl to revert back to a slow heart rate, due to the third degree heart block. This meant that the little girl needed numerous cardiac surgeries to continually replace the pacemaker wires, just to keep her alive.
This little girl was the only patient I’ve ever had, that I knew was operated on while in the womb, but there are many others that are done every year in an effort to save lives. “Doctors currently use fetal surgery to drain blocked bladders, to repair heart valves, and to remove abnormal growths from fetal lungs.” (O’Conner, 2012). “High volume fetal therapy centers report a higher than 90% survival rate of at least one baby and a higher than 80% survival rate of both babies after fetal surgery to correct the defect.” (Charlotte Lozier Institute, 2023).
Not many women will qualify for fetal surgery, simply put, because the risks to both mom and baby are so great. However, there are times when the benefit outweighs the risks, and there is a chance to save a child’s life. I have seen firsthand how fetal surgery can save lives. Even though the two year old girl needed several repeated surgeries after birth, she has a chance at having a normal, happy, healthy life because of the lifesaving risks that her mother and highly trained doctors were willing to perform.
References:
Charlotte Lozier Institute. (2023). Fetal Surgery: Treating Babies Before They Are Born. The Voyage of Life. https://lozierinstitute.org/dive-deeper/fetal-surgery-treating-babies-before-they-are-born/
O’Conner, Kathleen. (11-20-2012). Ethics of Fetal Surgery. The Embryo Project Encyclopedia. https://embryo.asu.edu/pages/ethics-fetal-surgery#:~:text=Fetal%20surgery%20is%20rare%20and,is%20considered%20a%20treatment%20option.
By:
Holly Thomas
