Four-year-old celebrates Christmas after innovative surgery at King’s
22 December 2023 - Four-year-old Sophia is enjoying her first Christmas school break, having beaten the odds to complete her first two terms at school following successful pioneering surgery before she'd even been born.
In July 2019, whilst 29 weeks pregnant with Sophia who had been diagnosed with Spina Bifida, mum Emma underwent innovative surgery which allowed surgeons to operate on her unborn daughter using a keyhole approach to close her spinal defect while still inside the womb.
The minimally invasive surgery (Fetoscopic Closure) was so new that, at the time, Sophia was only the third child to undergo the procedure. Surgeons believe King’s College Hospital to be the only hospital in the UK where such closures, using a keyhole approach, are performed.
The surgery was necessary in order to prevent Sophia’s spinal cord and nerves from suffering further damage, which risked preventing her from ever being able to walk or move her legs or feet, along with a range of other disabilities.
Open neural tube defects, commonly referred to as Spina Bifida, are a group of defects where the spine and spinal cord do not develop properly in the womb, resulting in a gap where the nerves are exposed and become damaged.
The defect or ‘gap’ is usually repaired immediately after birth, by which time much of the function in the legs is lost. That is why surgeons in select centres around the world have developed the expertise to make the repairs whilst babies are still in the womb, which improves function and reverses some of the changes seen in children with Spina Bifida. That procedure usually involves making a cut in the womb which carries risk to the mother and future pregnancies.
The team at King’s therefore began using a minimally invasive (keyhole) approach using a small camera and instruments inserted into the womb to repair the ‘gap’, improving the outcome for unborn babies whilst also reducing the risk to mothers and future pregnancies.
Sophia’s mum, Emma Shaw, from Stoke-on-Trent, said: “Sophia is a wonderful child, so headstrong and determined! She’s come a long way and has a great outlook on life. Her father, Alessandro, and I are so proud of her. When we reflect on all we’ve been through as a family, especially at Christmas time, we couldn’t be more grateful to Mr Zebian and the whole team at King’s.”
This ground-breaking Fetoscopic Closure has been performed by the King’s surgical team so far in a total of 29 procedures since September 2018, with the 30th on the horizon.
Paediatric and Adult Neurosurgeon Mr Bassel Zebian, who led the neurosurgical aspect of Sophia’s surgery alongside Professor Kypros Nicolaides and his Fetal Medicine team, explained: “It’s heart-warming to see Sophia doing so well.
“I am eternally grateful to her and her parents as well as all our other children and their parents for the trust they place in us to allow us to operate in this novel way which is increasingly proving to be better for babies, their mothers and future pregnancies.”