Baby survives in utero operation

A BABY boy is South Africa’s latest miracle baby, after surviving a double shunt in utero procedure.

The chances of baby Timothy John Hugh Clarke surviving after developing a rare condition known as hydrops fetalis in his mother’s womb were slim. The condition is an accumulation of fluids in one or more of the body’s major cavities around the lungs, heart and abdomen, leading to severely restricted lung development and severe cardiac failure.

However, just twelve days after his birth – Timothy, who was born at Netcare Parklands Hospital on 22 July, was ready to spend his first night at home with his delighted parents.

With the prognosis of survival being poor, a multidisciplinary foetal surgical unit drawing on the experience of doctors and specialists from Netcares Parklands, Umhlanga and Kingsway Hospitals, provided Timothy’s parents with the option of having a double shunt in utero procedure performed on their son.

Having had a history of three failed pregnancies, the Clarkes decided the doctors could proceed with this revolutionary procedure, the double-shunt version of which had never been performed in South Africa before and possibly even the world.

“I asked the surgical team who was to perform the operation whether they trusted their skill. When they said ‘yes’, I was greatly comforted. It was good to know that our experience will help others in a similar situation,” said Timothy’s dad, John Clarke.

Although the team conducting the surgery could rely on the experience and knowledge gained from performing six previous pinhole surgeries, there was no instance that they knew of in which a bilateral shunt procedure had been performed.

“We had a very spirited discussion about performing this surgery. We realised with a double shunt we were going into uncharted waters but the critical condition Timothy was in required us to think out of the box and potentially change the medical fraternity’s understanding of foetal physiology and the uterus’ healing potential. With permission obtained from the Clarkes we performed the surgery,” said Dr Ismail Bhorat, a specialist in foetal medicine, who was one of the doctors involved in Timothy’s delivery and assisted with the double shunt procedure.

The tenacity and bravery of the team paid off with Timothy’s birth last month. Timothy, who was operated on on 15 June when his mother was 31 weeks pregnant, was delivered via caesarean section at 37 weeks.

According to Dr Bhorat, Timothy is a ‘healthy’ baby who entered the world weighing 2.65 kilograms.

John Clarke and his wife Suzanne said they were overjoyed at the birth of their child. “Thanks to the outstanding doctors and the revolutionary procedure used we are able to celebrate the birth of our son,” said John.

“We are both very relieved and overjoyed to have Timothy home with us. We are extremely happy and grateful that we were able to meet the medical team of Dr Sanker, Dr Shaik and Dr Bhorat and our doctor from the start, Dr Bhana. It is these chaps that should take credit for the miracle they were able to perform in saving the life of our son. Yes we did have a tough decision to make whether to operate or not, but they had an even tougher job to make it happen once we had decided to go ahead with the procedure. I think with a ton of skill and bucket loads of faith we were able to come out on the other side with a living breathing baby boy.

“I couldn’t imagine anything different, its like it was meant to be. We are both looking forward to spending the rest of our lives with our little man,” said John.