Treating Fetal Obstructive Problems

Dr. Lam explains how fetal obstructive issues are treated to save the fetus and the mother.

One of the things that we commonly do within our fetal therapy center here at Banner Good Samaritan is deal with obstructive issues within the fetus itself, and for example, one of the most common things we see is something called posterior urethral valve syndrome or PUV; whereby within the urethra or the tube that allows exit of urine from the body there are actually valves there that prevent the forward flow of urine out of the baby and as a result, all the urine backs up and fully expands the bladder and can actually cause back pressure and destroy the kidneys. When we see a baby with PUV or posterior urethral valves we get concerned because if the kidneys are damaged and don’t work the baby will likely not survive because they won’t have any kidney function. So what we may try to do is if the kidneys are showing signs that they are working we will actually put a shunt; whereby we enter through the maternal uterus and enter into the baby’s body cavity and put a tube from the bladder and that tube exits the baby into the amniotic cavity or the fluid around the baby and we hope that we can help drain that excess urine out into the amniotic fluid around the baby and thereby take pressure off the baby and allow the kidneys to function well.