21 week Fetus Saved by In-Utero Blood Transfusion

JenyEliza

Princess of Rhetoric
Nov 1, 2009
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Atlanta, GA, USA
WOW! I had NO idea a human fetus could contract the PARVO VIRUS while in-utero.

Amazing that they discovered her problem and were able to successfully treat her before birth. In the normal course of things, she would have died in-utero and been treated as a "spontaenous abortion". Baby Zahlee would likely not have been named or even given funeral rites.

This is an encouraging sign (to me at least) that the medical community is really starting to take the lives of un-born children seriously, instead of treating them as so much medical waste!

Well done, doctors! Well done!

Baby Zahlee Currie's life saved by a radical bllod transfusion | Herald Sun

735860-rachel-fellowes.jpg

Baby Zahlee and her Mum

BABY Zahlee Currie's life was saved by a radical blood transfusion before she was even born.

Zahlee was near death after contracting the parvo virus in her mother's womb and doctors say they've never seen a baby so sick and so tiny, survive.

The 21-week-old foetus was given a rare in-utero blood transfusion at the Royal Women's Hospital.

Obstetrician Ricardo Palma-Dias said the virus caused severe anaemia in Zahlee. The virus destroys bone marrow, which produces red blood cells.

Her haemoglobin count was 3.4 when it should have been above 11, Dr Palma-Dias said.

"Had the transfusion been done much later the baby would have died," he said.

The alarm was raised by Warrnambool obstetrician Anthony Woodward after seeing mother Rachael Fellows' 20-week scan.

Dr Woodward noticed the baby's tummy was slightly swollen and ordered tests.

While the virus was common, it only rarely affected a foetus, because most adults were immune to it, having already had it.

The baby's condition rapidly deteriorated and Dr Woodward sent the Portland mother to Melbourne for treatment.

The virus was confirmed after arrival at the Royal Women's Hospital, where she was treated immediately.

"She came in with a baby that was very sick ... swollen, with fluid everywhere," Dr Palma-Dias said.

The 400g foetus had heart failure; fluid around the heart, liver and bowel; in the stomach; and an enlarged liver, he said.

Dr Palma-Dias and his team transfused 25ml of blood via a needle through Ms Fellows' belly into the umbilical cord, which went straight into the baby's bloodstream.

Another 15ml was put into the baby's abdomen, to be slowly released over the following weeks.

The baby's haemoglobin count rose to 12.1, and nine days after the risky procedure there were no signs of problems.

Haematologist Helen Savoia said fewer than one of these procedures were performed for parvo virus at the hospital each year.

Ms Fellows, a mother of three, believed she caught the virus from her six-year-old son.

"It was very scary - from having a routine ultrasound, to then getting put into hospital and having a blood transfusion," she said.

"It was a very stressful and worrying time, we didn't know what to expect."

Zahlee was born two weeks early and is now a healthy seven-week-old baby.

See link for rest of story....
 
tis amazing what they can do now ...as compared to 30 years ago...i wonder what the next 30 years will bring?

Bones...my twins were born 8 weeks early almost 16 years ago. The things they could do *then* were pretty farking amazing. One of my babies should be dead by all rights--having been born with deflated lungs that stuck together and wouldn't inflate. They used surfactant to get the baby's lungs working and save my baby's life (a new technology then--that is now STANDARD preemie care).

This baby also had Septicemia (blood infection) due to a pin-hole leak in the amniotic sac that allowed the amniotic fluid to become contaminated and infected. (I kept telling the nurses in the hospital that I was leaking and they told me due to the size of my pregnancy from carrying twins I was peeing myself and just didn't know it--BS I told them, but they didn't listen).

Funny, I never knew my baby was Septic until this twin was 6 years old and I had to pull the medical records for school (to prove premature birth, Very Low Birthweight, etc that would make my twin eligible for extra help learning). THAT is how I found out.

But, I digress...yes, it IS amazing the things they can do now. When my twins were born almost 16 years ago, the magic number for viablility was 26 WEEKS, that was my 1st target goal. To get to 26 weeks without going into labor. Then they set it at 30 weeks, then 34 and we would deliver. I made it to 32 weeks before nature took its course.

16 years down the road....fetal viability outside the Mom is now down to 21/22 weeks.

20 years from now, I predict they will be able to keep babies as young as 16 weeks alive outside the mother's womb and that the fetus/infant will suffer NO ill effects from being born that early.

And I don't think I'm being overly optimistic at all...
 
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