The fetus had a very slim chance of surviving when mother's fetal membrane burst during her 20th week of pregnancy as she was at a high risk of infection. The fetus's lungs stopped growing as the child's protective liquid cushion was removed.
She was also unprotected against germs in the womb, leaving her susceptible to life-threatening infection.
Surgeons at Bonn University Clinic conducted a surgical procedure that stimulated lung growth. They inserted the operating device, which is the size of a ballpoint pen, into the foetal membranes through a small opening in the stomach of mother.
According to AFP reports, the surgeons were assisted by a camera and ultrasonic apparatus as they carefully moved this 'foetoscope' via the mouth and into the trachea of the unborn baby.
Surgeons then inflated a miniature latex balloon that blocked the respiratory channel so that the fluid which is continuously produced by the prenatal lung cannot drain away. This build-up of the fluid stimulated the growth of baby's lung.
It was the first time such a procedure has been used after premature rupture of the fetal membrane. The baby named Miriam was born at 33 weeks and is now 1 year old and healthy.
Professor Thomas Kohl, the head of the German Centre of Foetal Surgery and Minimally Invasive Therapy at Bonn University Clinic said, "The prenatal operation only takes one or two hours. Competent follow-up care of the children after birth is at least as important for their healthy survival."
The surgeons detailed their achievement in the journal Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy.
