<p> In what has been termed a “world first” procedure, doctors in the US have successfully removed a tumour from the mouth of a four-month-old foetus.<br /><br />Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida who carried out the landmark operation said the tumour was very rare it had been seen only once in 20 years.</p>.<p><br />Tammy Gonzalez, who was 17 weeks pregnant at that time, saw a “bubble” coming out of her baby’s mouth during a scan.<br /><br />Tests confirmed the mass was a teratoma — a large tumour made of different types of tissue — ballooning from the soft palate of the foetus. Two weeks later, Dr Ruben Quintero, director of the Fetal Therapy Center at the hospital, snaked a tiny camera and surgical tools through a quarter-inch incision in Gonzalez’s growing belly and into the amniotic sac.<br /><br />“I couldn’t feel the incision because of the local anaesthetic, but I could feel the tube going into the sac,” said Gonzalez, who was awake during the procedure. “It felt like a popping balloon,” she was quoted as saying by ABC News.<br /><br />A laser was then used to cut the peach-sized tumour from Leyna’s lips. The operation lasted just over an hour and after five months, the baby was born.<br /><br />“When they finally severed the whole thing off and I could see it floating down, it was like this huge weight had been lifted off me and I could finally see her face,” Gonzalez said, describing the surgeons as “saviours”.</p>.<p><br />The baby, named Leyna, was born in October 2010 weighing over 3.5kg. She is now a healthy 20-month-old child. The only sign of her life-saving surgery is a tiny scar on her mouth.<br />Last week, Gonzalez returned to Jackson Memorial Hospital with Leyna to thank Dr Quintero for taking a chance. “It was very emotional. He is a lifesaver,” she said.<br /><br />But Quintero said Gonzalez should share the credit.<br />“She’s grateful that we offered her this chance,” he said. “But we could not have offered her the chance if she hadn’t had the courage.”<br /><br />The details of the pioneering surgery was reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. <br /></p>
<p> In what has been termed a “world first” procedure, doctors in the US have successfully removed a tumour from the mouth of a four-month-old foetus.<br /><br />Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Florida who carried out the landmark operation said the tumour was very rare it had been seen only once in 20 years.</p>.<p><br />Tammy Gonzalez, who was 17 weeks pregnant at that time, saw a “bubble” coming out of her baby’s mouth during a scan.<br /><br />Tests confirmed the mass was a teratoma — a large tumour made of different types of tissue — ballooning from the soft palate of the foetus. Two weeks later, Dr Ruben Quintero, director of the Fetal Therapy Center at the hospital, snaked a tiny camera and surgical tools through a quarter-inch incision in Gonzalez’s growing belly and into the amniotic sac.<br /><br />“I couldn’t feel the incision because of the local anaesthetic, but I could feel the tube going into the sac,” said Gonzalez, who was awake during the procedure. “It felt like a popping balloon,” she was quoted as saying by ABC News.<br /><br />A laser was then used to cut the peach-sized tumour from Leyna’s lips. The operation lasted just over an hour and after five months, the baby was born.<br /><br />“When they finally severed the whole thing off and I could see it floating down, it was like this huge weight had been lifted off me and I could finally see her face,” Gonzalez said, describing the surgeons as “saviours”.</p>.<p><br />The baby, named Leyna, was born in October 2010 weighing over 3.5kg. She is now a healthy 20-month-old child. The only sign of her life-saving surgery is a tiny scar on her mouth.<br />Last week, Gonzalez returned to Jackson Memorial Hospital with Leyna to thank Dr Quintero for taking a chance. “It was very emotional. He is a lifesaver,” she said.<br /><br />But Quintero said Gonzalez should share the credit.<br />“She’s grateful that we offered her this chance,” he said. “But we could not have offered her the chance if she hadn’t had the courage.”<br /><br />The details of the pioneering surgery was reported in the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology. <br /></p>