Surgeons team together to perform successful surgery on partially delivered baby
PHOENIX (April 6, 2010) – Surgeons at Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center and Phoenix Children’s Hospital knew a risky surgery – where 34-week-old Brant Fox was partially delivered and operated on while still attached to his mother – was the only chance to save him.
A week later, parents Katie and Justin Fox of Gilbert are thankful their baby boy is “doing well and looks perfect. He’s a little fighter.”
Katie learned during her pregnancy that Brant’s airway did not form correctly and that her baby would not be able to take his first breath. So she turned to the expertise of the high-risk OB team at the Banner Maternal Fetal Center at Good Samaritan Medical Center for help. That is when co-directors, Dr. Garrett Lam and Dr. William Clewell, shared information about the ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) procedure.
“We knew that an EXIT procedure was the only chance for survival,” said Dr. Lam, co-director of Fetal Therapy at the Banner Maternal Fetal Center. Lam and Clewell, along with staff at the Maternal Fetal Center organized and assisted in the procedure. “During the surgery involving Katie and her baby, Brant was partially delivered, but remained attached to mom by his umbilical cord and placenta so he could breathe.”
That’s when a team of physicians from PCH, neonatologist, Dr. Gregory Martin, ENT, Dr. John Milligan and anesthesiologist, Dr. Elton Thayer stepped in to establish an airway. Once the EXIT procedure is complete, the umbilical cord is cut and clamped, and the infant is fully delivered.
Dr. Lam said EXIT is much more complex than a standard c-section because it requires careful coordination between the mother's physicians and the specialists operating on the newborn baby. The placenta’s function as the lung bypass life support system for the baby is extended through delivery. Thus, careful medical management is necessary to preserve blood flow through the umbilical cord, protect the placenta, and avoid contractions of the uterus so there is sufficient time to establish the airway. Nearly 20 nurses and physicians from Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center and Phoenix Children’s Hospital assisted as doctors from both hospitals worked to save the baby.
About Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center
Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center has been providing medical care to Arizona and the Southwest since 1911. Banner Good Samaritan is owned and operated by Phoenix-based Banner Health, a non-profit organization. The hospital was named to the 2009-’10 U.S.News & World Report’s “America’s Best Hospitals” list for Gynecology, Heart & Heart Surgery and Kidney Disorders. Banner Good Samaritan has been recognized as a Magnet™ facility by the American Nurses Credentialing Center, the highest honor a hospital can earn for its nursing care and practices, and has been named one of the Best Places to Work in the Valley by The Phoenix Business Journal and BestCompaniesAZ in 2007 and 2008 and one of the “Top 100 Hospitals to Work For” by Nursing Professionals magazine.
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