Fetal surgery
Article Abstract:
Surgery to correct life-threatening birth defects may now be performed on fetuses before birth, but decisions about which fetuses may truly be helped must be made carefully. Animal fetuses were used in the 1980s as models for human fetal surgery in the 1990s. Life-threatening birth defects which may be candidates for prenatal surgery include urinary tract obstruction, lung malformations, diaphragmatic hernia, heart block, and twin-twin transfusion syndrome. Less invasive techniques such as fetal stem cell transplantation can be used to treat fetuses with immune system deficiencies. Fetal surgery has increased medical knowledge about nitric oxide's relationship to uterine contractions and about wound healing. Risks to the mother and fetus must be considered before undertaking high risk fetal surgery.
Publication Name: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0002-9378
Year: 1996
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Fetal liver cell transplantation for the creation of lymphohematopoietic chimerism in fetal baboons
Article Abstract:
Liver cells from human fetuses may become grafted into the blood of baboon fetuses after injection into the baboon abdominal cavity. Such a procedure might be used to treat serious genetic blood disorders. Researchers obtained human liver cells from aborted fetuses and injected them into three baboon fetuses, all of which survived the experiment. Human cells were found to be engrafted into the blood of one of the baboon fetuses 35 days after injection into its abdomen. The other two baboon fetuses did not show signs of receiving the transplanted material even after birth. Young fetuses have immature immune systems and may receive transplanted material more readily than older fetuses or infants.
Publication Name: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0002-9378
Year: 1995
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Fetal cell recycling: diagnosis of gender and RhD genotype in the same fetal cell retrieved from maternal blood
Article Abstract:
Fetal cell recycling can be used to analyze fetal cells in the mother's bloodstream. In a study of four Rh-negative pregnant women who had an abortion, the technique was used to isolate fetal blood cells from the mother's blood and determine the sex of the fetus and its Rh status.
Publication Name: American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0002-9378
Year: 1999
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