Baby Underwent A Heart Surgery Inside The Womb

A few months ago, the first heart stent procedure was performed in the womb. Baby Grace was found to suffer from hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS), the most common heart disease that is the cause of death of the babies during their first weeks of life.

When baby Grace was 30 weeks, the doctors placed a stent in the developing fetus.
This was possible with the help of the ultrasound. In the hypoplastic left heart syndrome, the left side of the heart is improperly developed. A hole that allows the blood to flow from the left side to the right was missing preventing the blood to leave the left side and causing accumulation in the lungs. In order to fix this anomaly, the doctors placed a small catheter into the mother's uterus and reached into the fetal heart where they made two holes in the wall between the left and right sides of the heart. The put a stent in-between the two holes to serve as a blood vessel to make the flow possible.

When baby was born, she was breathing normally but she needed another surgery, which was performed 3 days after her birth on January 13th. The second stage of the operation will occur when she is 4 to 6 months and the third and the final stage between 1 and 3 years of age.

The physicians report that it was stent that protected the baby’s lungs and helped the current operation go smoothly.

Is anyone able to tell me how the baby is going?

I would appreciate it SOOO much.

Thanks,
Adele