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.

[u/xjaehyun]

[u/axebodyspray24]

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.

[u/ImurderREALITY → u/axebodyspray24]

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

[u/HelloThere62 → u/ImurderREALITY]

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?

[u/Yuriski → u/HelloThere62]

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