Los Angeles Fetal Surgery is currently studying a new, minimally-invasive approach to the treatment of spina bifida in-utero. Spina bifida is a condition that affects the development of the backbone and may lead to debilitating lifelong damage. In-utero treatment of the condition has been shown to improve neurological outcome and has consisted of an open fetal surgery approach (open abdomen, open uterus) and a less invasive approach (open abdomen, closed uterus). This new surgical approach, in-utero percutaneous fetoscopic spina bifida repair, is minimally-invasive and is performed through a closed abdomen and closed uterus using laparoscopic instruments. The procedure that was pioneered in Brazil, has been brought to the United States and is being studied by our team of doctors at Keck School of Medicine of USC, Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and Huntington Hospital. This multi-institution collaboration is the first to perform a completely laparoscopic repair of open spina bifida in the western United States.
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