Foetal surgery first

AFRICAN SURGICAL HISTORY WAS MADE THIS YEAR WHEN A 24-WEEK- OLD FOETUS UNDERWENT SURGERY FOR SPINA BIFIDA IN JOHANNESBURG. ›

Prof Mike Belfort

Mike Belfort (MBBCh 1981), Baylor College of Medicine Professor and Obstetrician and Gynaecologist-in-Chief of Texas Children's Hospital, brought a team of foetal surgery experts to work with Professor Ermos Nicolaou, Academic Head: Wits Maternal and Foetal Medicine Centre and Mediclinic Morningside. Together they carried out this particular operation for the first time on the continent. Prof Belfort is a pioneer in foetal spina bifida surgery in the US and has participated in the Carnegie-Wits Alumni Diaspora Programme, which brings internationally renowned Health Sciences alumni back to Wits to build research collaborations and networks.

The operation involved inserting tiny ports into the mother’s uterus and covering the exposed area of the foetus’s spine with a membrane, then closing the skin to prevent damage to the nerves from contact with the amniotic fluid. Thirteen weeks later the baby was safely delivered and the hospital reported that the “surgery appears to have been a huge success”.

There are about 1000 cases of neural tube defects every year in SA. The surgical team also hopes to be able to perform in utero surgery for other kinds of abnormalities that might otherwise result in death or severe handicap.