Minimal access treatment of fetal birth defects

Fetal surgery was created to allow treatment of diseases for which postnatal therapy is inadequate. Initially, fetal surgery was performed via open techniques. However, in order to minimize maternal and fetal morbidity, minimally invasive techniques have been devised. Disease amenable to minimal access fetal surgery include: congenital urethral obstruction, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, sacrococcygeal teratoma, twin reversed arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence, twins discordant for an anomaly, twin-twin transfusion syndrome, amniotic band syndrome, fetal hydrothorax, and fetal chronic vascular access. A review of the literature and various techniques are presented here.