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Until now, mums whose babies were diagnosed with spina bifida could choose to have fetal surgery abroad or have postnatal surgery after the baby is born.Ìý

The team, coordinated by Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾'s Professor Anna David (Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ EGA Institute for Women's Health) with Professor Paolo de Coppi (Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health), repaired the defect in the spine of two babies with open spina bifida while they were still in the womb, in separate operations during the summer of 2018. Ìý

They have since successfully operated on four more babies in the UK. A further 11 women travelled to have surgery at Leuven, Belgium through our links with Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Visiting Professor Jan Deprest, who trained our team and is University College London Hospital’s (Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾H) fetal surgical lead.

The operations launched the Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Centre for Prenatal Therapy, which brought together researchers from Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ working with NHS clinicians from Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾H and Great Ormond Street Hospital (GOSH) in partnership with University Hospitals Leuven in Belgium to carry out the operations in the UK for the first time.Ìý

Until now, mums could choose to have the fetal surgery abroad or have postnatal surgery after the baby is born, which is the current practice in the UK.

After a trial was successful in the US, Anna and the team spearheaded a three-year drive to bring the surgery to the UK.Ìý

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The project called GIFT-Surg will optimise a less invasive fetoscopic repair technique and is funded by the Wellcome Trust and the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).Ìý

The Centre for Prenatal Therapy programme at Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾, Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾H and GOSH was made possible thanks to generous charitable funding totalling £450,000 from GOSH Children’s Charity and Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾H Charity.

Links

• Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ EGA Institute of Women's Health
• Professor Paolo de Coppi's academic profile
• Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health

Â鶹´«Ã½ÊÓƵÍøÕ¾ with us

• Prenatal Genetics and Fetal Medicine MSc

Image credit: Illustration by Studio Imeus