A baby girl who was operated on in the womb to treat and prevent a birth defect is now thriving.
Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio joined other top hospitals in the nation by performing its first in-utero surgery on an infant diagnosed with spina bifida, a severe birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord doesn't form properly.
A team of 23 clinicians including neurosurgeons, cardiologists, obstetricians and anesthesiologist performed the operation on the 23-week-old fetus in February.
The mother, who has wished not to be named, delivered a healthy baby girl at 37 weeks via C-section on June 3, and both are reportedly doing well.
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The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio performed its first in-utero spina bifida surgery on a 23-week-old fetus in February (pictured)
The baby girl was diagnosed with spina bifida before she was even born. Spina bifida is a birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord doesn't form properly, which can cause walking and mobility problems. Pictured, left and right: Doctors at the Cleveland Clinic perform spina bifida surgery
Cleveland Clinic, often considered among the medical field's innovators is joining the growing field, which was performed by The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
'By successfully repairing the defect before birth, we're allowing this child to have the best possible outcome and significantly improve her quality of life,' said Dr Darrell Cass, the director of fetal surgery at the Cleveland Clinic.
'There are different measures of quality in determining success for fetal repairs and in this particular case, all metrics for maximum quality were achieved.'
Spina bifida is a defect of the neural tube, a structure from which the brain and spinal cord
