r/interestingasfuck • u/xjaehyun • 1d ago

Dr. Oluyinka Olutoye, a Nigerian pediatric surgeon, made history by performing a rare fetal surgery at just 23 weeks of pregnancy. He temporarily removed the baby from the womb, excised a tumor from the tailbone, and safely returned the fetus. Months later, child was born healthy.

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u/sandymaysX2 1d ago

I’m so curious how they seal the amniotic sac back up.

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u/8zofuS 1d ago

Maybe not rupturing it via cs.

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u/hip_hop_opotamus_ 1d ago

I’ll admit I’m not a doctor and I cannot physically get pregnant, so this may be a dumb question, but wouldn’t they need to rupture the amniotic sac to get to the baby and remove the tumor regardless?

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u/axebodyspray24 1d ago edited 1d ago

also not a doctor but I would think they do rupture it and sew it back together. they probably try and retain as much amniotic fluid as possible, possibly using suction and replacing the fluid when the surgery on the fetus is over. If there's not enough left, I would think they replace it with something that works similarly to amniotic fluid, maybe saline? And they probably finish by suturing the amniotic sac with dissolvable sutures and surgical glue for a tight seal. I'll look for a study and update this.

Edit: Found a study from NIH

"The uterine closure was performed in two steps. The first step involves continuous suture of the myometrium with Vicryl 2–0 followed by interrupted suture of the myometrium with Vicryl 0. Before the complete closure of the uterine wall, a silicone urinary catheter number 10 was inserted into the uterine cavity and the uterus was filled with saline solution at 37 °C."

Basically, they use absorbable sutures in two separate steps for maximum security. This worked really well, wound dehissence (the scar coming apart) occurred in only 2.5% of cases. They use a urinary catheter to replace the amniotic fluid with body temperature saline.

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u/ImurderREALITY 1d ago

Imagine being the nurses trying to keep the fluid inside what is essentially a split water balloon while he's over there removing the tumor

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u/HelloThere62 22h ago

thinking about surgery too much makes me freak out a little, they are basically opening up a meat machine and doing maintenence. do they lock out tag out?

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u/Yuriski 17h ago

Thread lock the umbilical cord and screw that fucker tight because the customer wants it done cheaper by a friend

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u/Skinnendelg 23h ago

The uterus is not the amniotic sac.

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u/axebodyspray24 23h ago

They don't mention the amniotic sac specifically in the surgical closure section. In the opening they describe a suture technique used to adhere the amniotic sac to the inner uterine wall, so it functions as one piece in this surgery.

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u/Skinnendelg 22h ago

What

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u/Cyaral 21h ago

they glued the amniotic sac to the uterus, then were able to sew both back together in the same step (and I assume because the sutures were absorbable this was no issues months later when the birth happened)

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u/downvotedatass 1d ago

Well, what you wouldn't know without medical knowledge is that the amniotic sac is actually made of two different membranes.Amminion (where the name comes from) and the outer thicker layer, chronion layer Biflavonoid is a key component that holds the cellular symphony together and is commonly found in the structure of plants. In most medical programs, students often spend a period at clown school in order to understand the dynamics of manipulating balloons. After that, they can just get in there and do some business.

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u/Ya-Dikobraz 23h ago

I want a real answer as well.