Siriraj Hospital has successfully operated on an unborn baby to unclog a bladder blockade for the first time in Asia. The surgery remedied the condition that could cause miscarriage or stillbirth.
Clinical Prof. Udom Kachintorn, Dean of the Faculty of Medicine Siriraj Hospital, Mahidol University, has revealed that the technique of operations on unborn babies with the help of a surgical camera was first used in Southeast Asia to separate twins. The technology has since been used for more complicated pregnancies.
Surgeries on unborn babies with the help of a video camera and a fetoscope need to be implemented by a team of medical experts. And recently a Thai medical team has successfully corrected the bladder of an unborn baby.
The bladder blockade in fetus is a condition at birth which affects one in every 50,000 pregnancies. Once urine cannot be released, the unborn baby will have kidney failure, which results in miscarriage and stillbirth.
In the past, the condition could not be cured. But as the advanced technology has developed, the surgery, which took one hour, has saved the lives of both the baby and the mother; and claimed success for the Thai medical team.
