On the morning of May 31, the program "Journey of Rebirth - Connecting Love" of Phenikaa University Hospital (PhenikaaMec) had the participation of more than 20 families who had successfully undergone fetal intervention. The beautiful, healthy babies playing at the program all went through challenging journeys to have the opportunity to be born healthy, thanks to the intervention of fetal medicine doctors.
Journey to save babies from the womb
At week 24, Tran Van Anh (Phu Tho) felt abdominal pain and immediately went to the local hospital for examination. There, the doctor said the fetus had run out of amniotic fluid and could not be kept. Not giving up, the family went to Hanoi and went to several medical facilities, but they all shook their heads. "The family was extremely desperate," Ms. Van Anh choked up as she recalled that moment.
Trying to find out about her similar medical condition online, seeing information that Dr. Nguyen Thi Sim, Director of the Fetal Intervention Center, Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital, could intervene in the amniotic sac, Ms. Van Anh's husband took his wife "away from the hospital" to see the doctor.
"Luckily, Dr. Sim devoted himself to saving the baby, determined to keep the baby from the 25th to the 31st week mark, even though the amniotic fluid in the uterus had run out and the uterus had ruptured. At week 31, the baby was born healthy, and the whole family was overwhelmed with happiness. My family can only say thank you from the bottom of our hearts," said Mr. Tran Viet Son, Van Anh's father, emotionally.
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Ms. Van Anh choked up as she recounted the moment she almost lost her baby due to low amniotic fluid and uterine rupture. |
According to this leading doctor in fetal intervention, in medical literature, in cases where a pregnant woman has a ruptured uterus, the pregnancy cannot be retained because it is dangerous for both the mother and the child. Doctors at Hanoi Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital have gone through many consultations and asked the hospital's Board of Directors to intervene for the pregnant woman.
"We used all the amniotic fluid protocols, took care of the mother and child's health, used anti-infection and anti-bleeding drugs... When the baby was born, the doctor stitched up the mother's uterus. We cannot forget those days. In this journey, I am just a link and I must truly thank my family and colleagues for accompanying and trusting us," Dr. Sim shared.
Van Anh not only gave birth to a healthy son but also preserved her uterus and later gave birth to a baby girl.
Having two lovely daughters about 5 years old, Tue Anh-Tu Anh, Ms. Nguyen Thi Linh happily shows off that this is the result of Dr. Sim's determination to keep the pregnancy for the family at the time the fetus had twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome.
"Luckily, the pregnant woman Linh arrived on time and did not hesitate for a moment. When she arrived, the fetus was 23 weeks old, one fetus had low amniotic fluid, the other had excess amniotic fluid, so the weight difference was large. If she had hesitated, one fetus could have had fetal heart failure or fetal heart failure. I was thinking hard about how to save both babies," Dr. Sim confided.
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| Linh's two baby girls were born healthy despite suffering from twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome. |
At that time, fetal intervention surgery was very difficult and its safety and effectiveness had not been verified in Vietnam. Normally, in cases of twin blood transfusion, if delayed, there was only a chance to save one fetus, or even the mother lost both fetuses. What Dr. Sim and his colleagues initially did to intervene in the fetus was very new. However, overcoming difficulties and challenges, with the determination to keep the two healthy fetuses, Dr. Sim encouraged the family to believe in him.
"When we inserted the laser into the fetus, we divided the nutrition bridge for the two babies, added more water to the amniotic sac, and the next day, we had an ultrasound and were happy to see that the two babies had normal amniotic sacs. Both fetuses gradually grew together and the mother had a pair of healthy princesses like today," Dr. Sim happily said, pointing to the two beautiful girls.
Also sharing on the program, Ms. Nam's family confided that when she was pregnant for the third time with a boy, the family discovered that the baby had a high nuchal translucency. The local doctor advised the family to abort because the risk of Down syndrome was very high. Instead of aborting the baby, Ms. Nam went to Dr. Sim to keep hope.
"Doctor Sim said that if by week 14, the nuchal translucency decreases, there will be a chance, even if it is only 1%. By week 19, Dr. Sim used a new technique brought back from France, performed an amniocentesis test and the results showed that chromosome pairs 11, 13, and 18 were normal. My family is very lucky to have followed the doctor to have the results we have today," said Ms. Nam, happily hugging her 6-year-old son.
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Happy families welcome their children after a long journey. |
Continue to develop 8 more fetal intervention techniques
Dr. Nguyen Thi Sim, Deputy Director of Phenikaa University Hospital (PhenikaaMec) confided that she feels happy and grateful to receive the utmost love from patients who have trusted her with their children's lives, no matter where she is.
Having gone through two childbirths with hemorrhage and sudden amniotic fluid loss, Dr. Sim has come to understand and sympathize with the fragility of mothers on their journey to find their children. The opportunity to attend the Fetal Medicine Conference in France has truly opened a new path for Dr. Sim's journey as an obstetrician. She is determined to learn this technique and bring it back to Vietnam, so that many families who are waiting for their children can have the opportunity to have their dreams come true.
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Babies who had successful fetal intervention shared joy with doctors at the program. |
The first techniques that Dr. Nguyen Thi Sim and her colleagues brought to Vietnam have helped hundreds of families achieve ultimate happiness after going through dozens of stressful weeks to keep the fetus safe in the uterus.
Sharing in the program "Journey of Resurrection - Connecting Love", Dr. Sim confided that the first techniques that she and her colleagues brought back to Vietnam had to go through many ups and downs, conquering the professional council of the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Ministry of Health to successfully put into practice, which added strength to her determination to carry out her mission of fetal medicine.
Leaving Hanoi Obstetrics Hospital, accepting the invitation to become Director of Phenikaa Fetal Intervention Center and Deputy General Director of PhenikaaMec, Dr. Sim confided that the journey ahead with the fetal intervention team will be even more difficult and challenging when the Hospital is assigned to write the procedures for 8 new techniques.
"We will try our best to implement well the 8 new techniques to treat fetal diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, brain and many other diseases that are being discovered by scientists and continue to treat fetuses, achieving results reaching the regional and international level," Dr. Sim affirmed.
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Seeing healthy babies born is an endless joy for doctors performing fetal intervention. |
PhenikaaMec Fetal Medicine Center is the first comprehensive center in Vietnam in the field of fetal medicine, equipped with the world's best equipment system. The Center has just been entrusted by the Ministry of Health to deploy 10 difficult techniques to promote the development of fetal medicine in the country such as: Amnioscopic laser treatment of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome; amnioscopic laser treatment of amniotic band syndrome; amnioinfusion to treat oligohydramnios; fetal blood transfusion through the umbilical cord; ultrasound-guided aspiration of fetal peritoneal fluid; ultrasound-guided aspiration of fetal pleural fluid; amnioscopic laser umbilical cord cauterization; amnioscopic bipolar umbilical cord cauterization; amnioscopic drainage of fetal pleural fluid; fetal interventional endoscopy to treat congenital heart defects.
Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Thanh Hoi, General Director of PhenikaaMec Hospital, said that the Fetal Intervention Center provides dedicated, personalized, and internationally standardized medical services for high-risk or pathological pregnancies while still ensuring reasonable costs.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/hien-thuc-hoa-hanh-trinh-hoi-sinh-cho-nhung-em-be-tu-trong-bao-thai-post883682.html
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