After 4 weeks of the first fetal heart intervention in Vietnam, a 2.9 kg baby boy was born crying loudly at Tu Du Hospital, without receiving respiratory support as expected.

According to Doctor Nguyen Thi Thanh Huong, Deputy Director of Children’s Hospital 1, the neonatal resuscitation team of the two hospitals coordinated to pick up the baby and assess his health condition immediately after birth. Initially, the team thought about the possibility that the baby would have to breathe oxygen immediately after birth, but the baby cried loudly when he was born, rosy, breathing air on his own.

Ultrasound of the baby’s heart directly in the operating room recorded good blood flow through the narrowed area. Normally, fetuses with severe pulmonary valve stenosis like this case, without intervention to dilate the fetal heart valve, may be born pale and have difficulty breathing.

“Seeing the pregnant woman in tears holding her baby in her arms during skin-to-skin contact, we are even more motivated to continue performing fetal interventions,” said Dr. Huong.

After birth, the baby will be taken to Children’s Hospital 1 for doctors to evaluate and check the condition of the heart, and have a treatment plan for congenital heart disease.

This is one of the first two fetal heart interventions in Vietnam, jointly performed by doctors from Children’s Hospital 1 and Tu Du. The remaining woman is more than 31 weeks pregnant, the fetus is developing well, her cardiovascular condition has improved, and has not gotten worse. This pregnant woman was discharged from the hospital and returned home for regular follow-up and follow-up examinations.

Fetal intervention brings about spectacular improvement results, but also faces many risks during and after surgery such as hemopericardium, slow heart rate leading to cardiac arrest, premature labor, and premature rupture of membranes. .. However, this technique helps prevent serious progression of the heart, plus the fetus has stem cells that can repair itself, giving the baby a chance to be born healthy.

Director of the Department of Health of Ho Chi Minh City, Tang Chi Thuong, assessed that cardiac catheterization of a fetus in the mother’s womb is something “few people dare to think about”, because the baby’s heart is like a strawberry, requiring “precise experience”. absolute”, coordination that few provinces and cities have between hospitals. This technique has just been nominated for the 2023 Vietnam Medical Achievement Award.

Recently, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan sent a letter to the medical staff of two hospitals, expressing his joy at the success of the first two fetal heart interventions in Vietnam. Ms. Lan assessed that this is a very complex technique, requiring a high level of expertise and coordination, and has only been successfully implemented in a few countries with highly developed medical systems. The Minister hopes that doctors and nurses will continue to strive to make Vietnam one of the reliable addresses on the world’s map for implementing fetal congenital heart intervention.

Le Phuong