title: Advances in fetal surgery.
abstract: Historically, the gold standard for the treatment of congenital malformations has been planned delivery at tertiary care center with attempted post-natal repair or amelioration of the lesion. Over the last few decades however, rapid advances in imaging and instrumentation technology combined with superior knowledge of fetal pathophysiology has led to the development of novel intrauterine interventions for most common fetal anomalies. Great success has already been seen the treatment of previous devastating anomalies such as myelomeningocele (MMC), congenital cystic malformations of the lung, twin-twin transfusion, and sacrococcygeal teratomas. Although still limited, these innovative techniques have unique potential to improve outcomes in the most devastating fetal anomalies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medstar Georgetown University Hospital, Washington DC 20007, USA.
authors.forename: Kathryn M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Maselli
authors.affiliation: Division of Pediatric Surgery, Children's National Medical Center, Washington DC 20010, USA.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Badillo
keywords: Congenital lung malformation (CLM); fetal therapy; fetal ultrasonography; fetoscopic surgery; nervous system malformations