Fetal surgery nowadays - Fetal surgery in the current context

Abstract

Fetal surgery is now a reality in large centers that specialize in the field of fetal medicine. Fetal surgery emerged in the 1960s, primarily from the need to better identify and understand fetal pathologies, and its exponential development was driven by improvements in prenatal diagnostic techniques. Fetal surgery gradually became the main treatment for specific fetal pathologies, changing the course of these diseases. This study summarizes the history of the fetal surgeries that are most commonly performed worldwide, how they started and how they evolved over time, the main validation trials and the most widely used surgical technique in each case. The main surgeries include laser photocoagulation of placental anastomoses in twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, in utero repair of fetal myelomeningocele and fetal endotracheal occlusion in cases of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. Other surgeries and procedures, whose benefits are less clear and whose results are still somewhat controversial, such as urinary interventions in cases of lower urinary tract obstruction, cardiac procedures in cases of critical aortic stenosis, thoracoamniotic shunts for the treatment of massive pleural effusions and intrauterine resection of sacrococcygeal teratomas and pulmonary masses, are also cited. The future of fetal surgery is also assessed.