A mother from the UK underwent groundbreaking surgery for her unborn baby, who had a rare condition where his intestines were developing outside his body in the womb.
Maisie Savage, a 29-year-old teacher from London, was 26 weeks pregnant when doctors in the United States performed surgery on her baby while still in the womb. Baby Theo, now five months old and healthy, was diagnosed with gastroschisis, a condition where the abdominal wall does not form correctly, resulting in the intestines protruding outside the body.
In a pioneering procedure, doctors successfully moved Theo’s intestines back into his abdomen before he was born, making him only the third baby in the world to undergo this clinical trial. The complex form of gastroschisis was discovered during a routine scan at 20 weeks of pregnancy by doctors in the UK.
After being referred to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston by Great Ormond Street Hospital in the UK, Maisie had to travel to Belgium for a procedure involving Botox injection to prepare for the surgery. The operation, performed in November, involved a team of doctors using keyhole surgery to move the baby’s organs back into the abdomen before birth.
Following the successful surgery, Theo was born in February, feeding and growing like a normal baby. Dr. Michael Belfort, leading the medical team, expressed satisfaction with the results, highlighting the absence of complications during and after the surgery. The possibility of making this surgery available in the UK in the future was also mentioned by medical experts involved in the procedure, offering hope for more patients to benefit from this innovative approach.
