Pre-natal surgery? Operating on babies in the womb, what do we think?

[Spagbolly]

Article here

I'm a bit horrified by this, although I don't know the fine details of how they do it? What about the babies' pain experience? It's well documented now that a babies have a limbic (felt) experience in the womb. I don't see how operations can happen without distressing the infant. I expect I'll get a thrashing here. What do others think?

If they can operate then they can administer pain relief

what on earth makes you think there would be no pain relief?

Would you rather they died of a fixable condition?

So what would you prefer?

I think it’s an amazing advance that will make an incredible difference to some infants’ lives. Paediatric, neonatal and foetal analgesia is a dedicated field, surgeons don’t just hack away at them!

I think it’s absolutelt amazing what they can do now to save lives

What do others think?

It's amazing.

I'm sure the surgeons know what they are doing, including wrt to pain management.

It's not like they are doing a prenatal boob job fgs.

Saving babies vs not saving babies. Um

A close friend of mine had fetescopic surgery. She was given meds to eliminate pain and reduce anxiety during the operation. The baby in utero was given meds to elminate pain and reduce movement.

Horrified?

I think if I was pregnant and told operating now might massively improve my baby's ability and quality of life, I would bounce on the table there and then.

It's amazing!

What on earth is there to be horrified by? They're hardly hacking at unborn babies with a blunt knife. It's all managed appropriately. An operation in utero vs a life of disability, discomfort and pain? Not difficult to decide imo.

Looking at the other replies so far, it would appear that the hive mind "we" are happy with the idea.

They're not doing it for shits and giggles it has allowed children with conditions such as spina bifida to have much more limited impairment than they over wise would of had if they waited to do the surgery

What a strange thread - what medical expertise do you have? Operating on a baby in the womb is incredibly risky and would only happen in the most extreme circumstances - they're hardly performing cosmetic surgery are they? Of course pain relief to the infant has been carefully considered. Would you prefer they left the baby to die?

It can save lives and save quality of life for those babies. They only do it if leaving it until after birth would have negative consequences for mother and/or baby. Of course they use relevant pain relief for both patients!

Why on earth would you assume analgesia is not administered ?

Horrified?

I think it's amazing. I had surgery on my placenta in utero, no pain to the babies but there were significant risks. Without it they would have died.

I think it’s AMAZING.

The scarring from in utero surgery is virtually non existent which is mind boggling.

They have been doing this for years, it's not new.

You should be applauding the brilliance of the surgeons rather than starting a threat about a subject you know zero about

There was a baby operated on in the womb when I was pregnant 19 years ago !! Why the worry now

It leaves me awestruck. That humanity has developed this knowledge and ability, that people are skilled enough and confident enough to do it... It amazes me.

My dd had a blood transfusion in the womb.
She went nuts so they sedated her.
I realise a blood transfusion isn’t the same as surgery but they didn’t let my dd suffer for a minor procedure, can’t imagine they would for something more serious!

I saw a child on tv recently who had had spina bifida and would have been potentially paralysed, incontinent and life limited but instead had surgery in utero and was an entirely healthy toddler with normal mobility.

Horrified?

I do not think so.