May 13 2009
There’s something about that environment…
More good news for Baby Océane, who seems to be recovering very well from her pre-birth surgery. The whole story is interesting and uplifting to read, but here’s the bit that got my attention:
Doctors are increasingly performing interventions on fetuses, including transfusions, bladder stents and draining cystic masses, says Dr. Greg Ryan, head of the fetal medicine unit at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, the only Canadian hospital that performs fetal cardiac interventions and one of only six around the world.
A developing fetus has an amazing ability to heal itself, although it is still not clear what it is about the in utero environment that makes that possible. “The tissue has the ability to modify and correct itself,” says Ryan.
Science can’t always explain everything.
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Tanya adds: I know I’m just saying what we’re all thinking here, but if we can get in there to intervene and help save a fetus, why may we also get in there and destroy one? Could you ask a doctor to help save your ebbing tapeworm, I wonder? Or how about elective pancreatectomy?
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