KOCHI: The paediatric surgeons at Amrita Hospital in Kochi have successfully performed a surgery on a 22-week-old fetus to remove an obstruction in urine flow that was damaging the kidney of the unborn baby.
The surgery, conducted a week ago, brings the country on par with developed nations, said Amrita Institute of Medical Sciences (AIMS) pediatric surgery head Dr Mohan Abraham.
The 28-year-old patient from Thrissur, currently residing in Dubai, had arrived in the hospital for a routine check-up.
“The condition may have turned fatal if left untreated. A team of six surgeons from the department of pediatric surgery operated on the fetus,” he said.
AIMS Fetal Medicine professor Dr Vivek Krishnan said this was the first time in India a 22-week-old fetus was treated in the mother’s womb.