Overview
- A BCNatal team from Sant Joan de Déu and Hospital Clínic operated inside the womb on a 28‑week, 700‑gram fetus to repair severe gastroschisis by reintroducing about 80 cm of exposed intestine through a 1.5 cm abdominal defect.
- The surgery took roughly two and a half hours and used laparoscopy with trocars placed in the amniotic sac, removal of amniotic fluid and gas insufflation to create space for delicate suturing.
- On 10 February the team performed the procedure after ethics‑committee review and parental consent because imaging showed the intestines were at high risk of inflammation, loss of blood flow and necrosis that can lead to long‑term intestinal failure.
- The baby was delivered by cesarean at 34 weeks, was discharged after a short neonatal stay and is reported at two months to be feeding normally and weighing about 4 kg.
- BCNatal, which performs about 100 fetal surgeries a year, says the result suggests a possible option for the roughly 10–20% of gastroschisis cases classed as complex but warns that wider use will require longer clinical follow‑up, peer review and strict selection criteria.