More than 80 children with a serious defect – a spina bifida with a spinal hernia were operated on in the womb at the Specialist Hospital No. 2 in Bytom. Apart from Poland, such operations are performed only in three countries – the USA, Brazil and Germany.
Spina bifida operations with meningeal hernia are rarely performed. They come with the risk of premature birth. In addition, gynecologists rarely inform women that such surgery is possible. Usually they are offered either a delivery accompanied by the mother’s awareness that her baby will never get up from a wheelchair, or … an abortion. Fortunately, this does not apply to eighty-two pregnant Polish mothers who went to the hospital in Bytom after they found out that their child had spina bifida with a spinal hernia. – Thanks to the oeration, although most children will use various orthopedic devices, they will not be confined to a wheelchair. They will be independent – says prof. Anita Olejek, head of the Department of Gynecology, Obstetrics and Oncological Gynecology at the Medical University of Silesia in Bytom.
Spina bifida surgery with a spinal hernia can be performed between 22 and 27 weeks of pregnancy, usually between 24 and 26 weeks.
The first operation in the womb was performed in 1981 by prof. Michael Havisson. This gave rise to intrauterine fetal surgery. Such operations are performed in two ways: through the so-called intrauterine open surgery (when the abdominal wall and the walls of the uterus are cut open or endoscopically, which is called a “keyhole” operation. Until recently, fetal surgeries were treated as a medical experiment, and today doctors hope that advanced technologies will lead to the fact that most serious defects, including genetic defects, can be eliminated before children are born.