History was created at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) on Wednesday when doctors performed the institution’s first ever blood transfusion on a foetus – an operation that may have saved the life of the unborn child.
The foetal intra-uterine transfusion was conducted after the mother’s immune system was found to be Rh-sensitized – that is, it had produced antibodies to destroy the foetus’ Rh positive red blood cells which it saw as foreign.
The transfusion of donor blood, delivered into the umbilical vein, replaced the foetal red blood cells that were being destroyed and will keep the foetus healthy until it is time for delivery, which is preferably in another two weeks.
A release from the QEH said the mother and baby are doing fine.
Maternal and foetal medicine specialist Dr Na Tisha Robinson, who conducted the one-hour procedure, said the complex intervention possibly saved the life of the 31-week-old foetus since the anaemia was severe. (PR/DP)
