Unite to save fetal life

Fetuses are fragile and so performing surgery on them is definitely challenging. Nevertheless, as long as the parents determine not to give up, Prince of Wales Hospital and the Fetal Medicine Team of The Chinese University of Hong Kong will dedicate their full effort to the survival of the unborn babies.

Established in 1996, the team is the first to introduce fetoscopic surgery in Hong Kong. To date, they have performed over 500 complex fetal surgeries, such as fetoscopic laser photocoagulation for twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, in utero transfusion for fetal anaemia, pleural shunting for hydrothorax, fetoscopic endotracheal occlusion for congenital diaphragmatic hernia and fetoscopic repair of neural tube defect to save many fetal lives.

Professor Leung Tak-yeung, who is the team leader and the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, recalls a case that took place one and a half years ago. The 40-year-old mother had experienced three miscarriages, and in her fourth pregnancy, her baby was found to have a defect in the diaphragm through which the abdominal contents herniated into the chest, compressing on and impairing the growth of the lungs. To increase the chance of survival for the baby, at 27 gestational weeks, the team used a fetoscope to place a ‘balloon’ into the baby’s millimetre-wide trachea to enable the lungs to re-expand and grow. The mother went into preterm labour at 31 weeks. During cesarean section, the team had to remove the ‘balloon’ promptly before cutting the umbilical cord so that the baby would not be suffocated. On the fifth day of life, the surgeons repaired the defect in the diaphragm. With the team’s concerted effort, the one-year-old baby has grown healthy and happy.

Sad to say, there are unfortunate cases in which the parents have no choice but to give up their babies, or babies cannot survive despite treatment. The team always walks beside the parents along such grievous journey, explaining every decision in detail with patience. When these babies are born, though without signs of life, the team cleans their body thoroughly, dresses them up and makes handprints and footprints for the parents. This is a great tenderness to the sleeping angels, also the best memento the team could offer to these parents.

Team list