Orlando Health celebrates five years of its successful in-utero surgery

ORLANDO, Fla. — Orlando Health has been helping mothers and their unborn babies for five years with its in-utero surgery.

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On Mother’s Day weekend, the hospital celebrated the fifth anniversary of its open fetal surgery with patients and their families.

The surgery repairs a spinal defect developed by the fetus in the early stages of pregnancy.

The hospital has performed 36 cases of mothers and their unborn babies in Florida, Puerto Rico, Alabama, and Hawaii.

Dr. Samer Elbabaa is the chief of pediatric neurosurgery at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. He is happy to celebrate another year with the surgery program.

“We’re thrilled to celebrate five incredible years of our fetal surgery program and reunite with many of the mothers and babies we’ve had the privilege to care for,” Elbabaa said.

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The fetal surgery program started when Dr. Elbabaa joined the team, and he has performed more than 100 of these procedures in his career.

“We see an average of 13,000 births a year, and this program is truly meeting an important need here in Central Florida and across the country,” Elbabaa added

Orlando Health Winnie Palmer Hospital for Women and Babies is the first hospital in Florida to offer this procedure.

Channel 9 investigative reporter Karla Ray covered back in 2017 the debut of this procedure in Central Florida.

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Fetal surgery is not a cure for the spinal defect. However, studies show it improves the child’s mobility and leg function.

Emily and Erich Ziegler are from Lakeland, one of the more recent families undergoing the procedure at Orlando Health.

Their son Chance was “twice-born” in 2021. Now, he is walking unassisted.

Chance’s mother said that she remembers how the doctors told her walking was not a possibility for him with a spinal disease.

“The fact that he can walk just made me sure that doing fetal surgery was the right choice,” Ziegler said.

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Pregnant mothers must undergo screening to see if this surgery is the best option for them.

During the procedure, a maternal-fetal medicine doctor opens the mother’s uterus to expose the baby’s spine so the fetal surgeon can repair the spine.

Dr. Cole Greves is the director of complex fetal care and co-director of the Fetal Care Center at Orlando Health Winnie Palmer. He is happy to celebrate the anniversary so close to Mother’s Day.

“Our fetal surgery mothers are truly the heroes of this story. They are putting their bodies through two major surgeries, with an intense recovery, just so they can give their babies a better quality of life,” Greves said.

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Children who had fetal surgery for the spinal disease can continue to receive multidisciplinary care through the Leon Pediatric Neuroscience Center of Excellence at Orlando Health Arnold Palmer.

If you want to learn more about fetal surgery, click here.

WATCH: Orlando Health celebrates five years of its successful in-utero surgery Orlando Health has been helping mothers and their unborn babies for five years with its in-utero surgery.

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