Change Of Heart
Hitting the Target...
1 POSITIONING THE FETUS After mother and fetus were anesthetized, physicians massaged the mother's belly to bring the fetal heart near the belly wall. Then a doctor pressed down on the mother's abdomen to hold the fetus in place
2 AIMING FOR THE HEART With a specially designed needle, doctors aimed for the apex of the heart, which was the size of a grape. Once inside, they worked their way to the defective valve
...and Fixing the Flaw
3 GETTING WIRED Doctors replaced the needle tip with a thin wire that they threaded through the constricted valve
4 OPENING THE VALVE A small balloon was snaked along the wire and inflated with fluid to prop open the valve
5 LETTING THE BLOOD FLOW To make sure the balloon did its job, doctors inflated and deflated it six or seven times
Sources: Brigham & Women's Hospital, the Children's Hospital
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