PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) — Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has completed its 500th successful fetal surgery for Spina Bifida.<\/p>\n
The hospital is marking a milestone and celebrating the Maryland family whose baby underwent the procedure at just 23 weeks gestation.<\/p>\n
Cassandra Rodriguez of Cecil County, Maryland, said her son, Owen Nelles, is a miracle.<\/p>\n
“He’s just always going to be a star in my eyes no matter what,” she said.<\/p>\n
Owen was diagnosed with Spina Bifida, a condition in which an opening in the back forms during fetal development, leaving the spinal cord exposed to amniotic fluid and vulnerable to damage.<\/p>\n
At 23 weeks gestation, specialists at CHOP operated on Owen while he was still in the womb.<\/p>\n
Dr. Scott Adzick, Surgeon in Chief at CHOP, said repairing the opening can improve outcomes.<\/p>\n
“Repairing that Spina Bifida hole reverses the effects in the brain,” he said. “Repair means a better chance of motor function. They are much more likely to ambulate, to walk.”<\/p>\n
Rodriguez said the condition can have lasting consequences.<\/p>\n
“With the Spina Bifida, once your nerve damage is there, there no cure for it. There no turning it back, there is no surgery,” she said.<\/p>\n
The procedure performed on Owen marked the hospital’s 500th fetal surgery for Spina Bifida, a milestone for a program considered a pioneer in fetal surgery.<\/p>\n
“Our basic message is when you operate and save a child, you save a lifetime,” Adzick said.<\/p>\n
Following the operation, Rodriguez remained on bed rest at CHOP for four months until delivery.<\/p>\n
After ten days in the NICU, Owen went home to Maryland, where he joined his older sisters, Aubri and Baylee.<\/p>\n
“I’m just so thankful for it because his life gets to be so much different now, so much,” Rodriguez said.<\/p>\n
The surgery is performed around the midpoint of pregnancy, when babies weigh less than two pounds.<\/p>\n
CHOP says the operation takes about 72 minutes, a brief procedure that can change the course of a child’s life and a family’s future.<\/p>\n
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