UK baby doing well after pioneering womb surgery

demoduck.co.uk editorial team 2026-08-03 14:56 3 min read

Newborn baby sleeping peacefully wrapped in a soft teal fabric blanket.

At three months old, a baby boy is doing remarkably well after becoming the first child in the UK to undergo surgery in the womb for gastroschisis, Great Ormond Street Hospital reported on 3 August 2026.

The rare condition leaves a baby’s intestines developing outside the abdomen. The experimental procedure attempted to reposition them before birth, when prolonged exposure to amniotic fluid can cause serious damage.

Only three children worldwide have received the treatment. It remains part of an international feasibility study rather than established care.

Gastroschisis exposes the bowel before birth

Gastroschisis occurs when the abdominal wall does not develop fully during pregnancy, leaving the intestines outside the baby’s body. Around 200 to 300 babies are affected in the UK each year, with the condition typically detected during the mother’s 20-week ultrasound scan.

Current treatment involves surgery soon after birth to return the intestines to the abdomen. Complex cases can require several operations over several days, followed by weeks or months in hospital.

UK baby doing well after pioneering womb surgery

Babies may initially need nutrition delivered through a vein while the bowel heals and begins working. In the most severe cases, intestinal damage can lead to multiple surgeries, prolonged intravenous feeding and life-threatening or life-changing complications.

Surgeons operated between 25 and 27 weeks

For the new fetal surgery, surgeons carefully access the uterus between 25 and 27 weeks of pregnancy, reach the unborn baby and reposition the exposed intestines. The procedure is designed to protect both mother and child while the operation is carried out.

The central aim is to reduce the damage that can develop before birth. Returning the bowel earlier could limit its exposure to amniotic fluid and improve the baby’s condition after delivery, although the study has not yet established whether those benefits will be achieved consistently.

The approach builds on fetal surgery techniques already used for conditions including spina bifida. According to the research team, those methods had not previously been applied to a condition affecting the gut.

Three babies worldwide have received the treatment

The feasibility study is led by Texas Children’s Hospital in partnership with specialists at Great Ormond Street Hospital and KU Leuven. Its limited scale means the baby boy’s early progress is encouraging but cannot alone establish the procedure’s safety, long-term effectiveness or suitability for wider use.

Professor Paolo De Coppi, a consultant fetal and paediatric surgeon at Great Ormond Street Hospital and a professor at the UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, said the boy was doing remarkably well at three months old.

De Coppi said positive results could eventually make fetal surgery the standard operation for complex gastroschisis. He also suggested it could allow families to return home sooner after birth, but those outcomes remain objectives for the research rather than proven results.

Researchers will assess less invasive techniques

The international team must now gather evidence from the feasibility study about outcomes for babies and mothers. With only three children treated worldwide, larger conclusions cannot yet be drawn from the early cases described by the hospital.

Future work within the trial will also examine whether surgeons can perform the operation using less invasive techniques, with the aim of improving recovery for mothers. Any move towards routine treatment for complex gastroschisis will depend on the study’s results.

Source: Great Ormond Street Hospital News

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Source check Source trail

The procedure, early outcome and study limits were checked against Great Ormond Street Hospital's report dated 3 August 2026.

Checks

Confirmed that this was the first reported in-womb gastroschisis operation involving a UK...
Checked the reported treatment window of 25 to 27 weeks of pregnancy.
Retained the reported UK incidence estimate of 200 to 300 babies each year.
Distinguished the baby's early outcome from evidence still required by the feasibility stu...

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