A Miraculous Birth: The Story of Alessandro’s Life-Saving Surgery
Alessandro, a young boy from Rome, was born with a rare condition that put his life at risk. At just 24 weeks of gestation, he underwent a delicate surgery while still in his mother’s womb to remove a large pulmonary cyst that was compressing his heart and lungs. The cyst, which was approximately 9x6x5 centimeters in size, was causing serious fetal heart failure and put Alessandro’s survival at risk. The surgery was performed by the fetal surgery team at the Bambino Gesù pediatric hospital in Rome, who positioned a pleuro-amniotic shunt to connect the fetus’s thorax with the amniotic fluid, allowing normal cardiac function to be re-established.
A Collaborative Effort
The procedure was carried out at the San Pietro Fatebenefratelli hospital by a joint team of obstetric specialists from San Pietro and fetal surgeons from Bambino Gesù. This collaborative effort was crucial in saving Alessandro’s life. As Andrea Conforti, head of the Bambino Gesù fetal and neonatal surgery unit, explained, “The cyst was very large, it occupied almost the entire chest of the little one. After birth, we operated on him with thoracoscopy, a minimally invasive procedure that allowed for a rapid recovery without complications.”
A Successful Outcome
Alessandro was born via scheduled cesarean section at the 35th week of gestation and immediately underwent instrumental investigations to confirm the pathology of the right lung. The next day, the team of neonatal surgeons performed a thoracoscopic lobectomy, removing the entire lower lobe of the diseased lung with a minimally invasive technique. Fortunately, Alessandro made a full recovery and was discharged in mid-October. Today, he is doing well and is expected to have a normal life, even play sports, in the future. As Conforti noted, “Today Alessandro breathes with two lung lobes instead of three, but he is fine: the healthy lobes have re-expanded and perfectly compensate for his respiratory function.”
A Center of Excellence
The Bambino Gesù hospital has established itself as a center of excellence in managing complex fetal cases, thanks to its collaborative approach and expertise. According to Leonardo Caforio, head of Obstetrics, gynecology, and prenatal diagnosis at Bambino Gesù, “Our hospital often finds itself managing complex fetal cases, in which the chances of success strictly depend on the combined work of different teams of specialists.” The hospital’s commitment to providing high-quality care and its collaboration with external centers of excellence have made it a point of reference in the central-south of the country.
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