October 25, 2012 Repairing birth defects in the womb. Inserting
a tiny laser into the mother's uterus to seal off an abnormal
blood flow and save fetal twins. Advancing the science that may
allow doctors to deliver cells or DNA to treat sickle cell
anemia and other genetic diseases before birth. These are
examples of the still-emerging field of fetal surgery. "Fetal
surgery is a unique field in maternal-fetal medicine," said
pediatric surgeon N. Scott Adzick, MD, medical director of the
Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT) at The
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. "Detecting birth defects
prenatally has allowed physicians to provide better perinatal
care," said Adzick, "but many of these babies were already too
sick for us to treat them successfully after they were born.
This dilemma led to the development of fetal surgery." "Some of
the fetal anomalies we treat are so rare that a physician may
encounter them only once or twice in a career," continued
Adzick, who is surgeon-in-chief at Children's