Saving a life in Israel: A rare fetal surgery during wartime
A couple from Cyprus traveled to Israel to save their unborn child. Doctors at Beilinson performed a rare in-utero cyst drainage, allowing the baby to breathe independently immediately after birth.
A young couple from Cyprus, expecting their first son, never imagined that their pregnancy would force them to leave their home, move to Israel, and wait for the birth under air-raid sirens. It all began at the 20th week of pregnancy, when a system scan revealed a large fluid-filled cyst under the fetus's tongue, blocking the oral cavity.
The couple was referred to Prof. Kypros Nicolaides, a world-leading expert in fetal medicine in London. He drained the cyst under ultrasound guidance but warned the parents that it would likely refill, recommending they give birth at Beilinson Hospital in Israel, where the specialized infrastructure required for such a complex case was available.
At the 31st week, the mass did indeed refill. Dr. Yuval Gialchinsky, director of the Fetal Medicine Center at Beilinson (Clalit Group), advised the couple to arrive in Israel as soon as possible due to the security situation. They arrived at the 34th week, waiting for the birth far from their family and home.
"I have never seen such a mass," says Dr. Gialchinsky. "It was a giant cyst that glued the tongue to the palate. While inside the womb, it did not pose an immediate threat, but the moment the baby was born and needed to take its first breath, there was a real danger that the mass would block the airway."
In preparation for the birth, a multidisciplinary team from Beilinson and Schneider Children's Medical Center formulated a complex treatment plan. They initially prepared for an EXIT procedure—a rare intervention where the baby's head is delivered during a C-section while it remains connected to the placenta.
However, Dr. Gialchinsky decided to intervene even earlier. While the mother was under anesthesia for the C-section, he inserted a needle through the uterine wall directly into the cyst and aspirated the fluid. The mass emptied, the airways opened, and the baby was born capable of breathing on its own.
"Thanks to the cooperation between all teams, we managed to bring him into the world safely," says Dr. Gialchinsky. "Elsewhere, he could have suffocated immediately after birth." After two weeks of recovery, the family returned to Cyprus. While the baby will require a minor follow-up surgery to complete the treatment, the immediate life-threatening danger was successfully averted thanks to early diagnosis.
