Team Of Surgeons Remove Tumor Attached To Heart Of 26-Week-Old Fetus

Sam Drinnon had been pregnant once before, and the delivery of her first-born had been smooth. In late April of 2021, however, while about 25 weeks pregnant with her second-born, Sam went in for a routine checkup, only to be met with devastating news. The fetus, a male who was to be named Ryland, suffered from intrapericardial teratoma (a tumor on the heart) with fetal hydrops (fluid accumulation around the heart).

According to the Cleveland Clinic, this condition happens at a rate of about 1 in 100,000 pregnancies. It's so rare, very few studies have been published about it. While the Drinnons were initially concerned that they would lose their baby, the doctors office that discovered the condition sent the family to the Cleveland Clinic to see if there was anything they could do to save his life.

On May 7, 2021, a team of multidisciplinary doctors and nurses assembled to perform the life-saving surgery on the fetus, which was 26 weeks old by that time.

The procedure included putting Sam under anesthesia in order to create a C-section-like incision on her uterus, exposing the fetus. Doctors then lifted the fetus's body out of the uterus, while leaving his head inside. From there, they were able to create an incision on his chest, remove the tumor, close the wound, place him back inside the uterus, and then finally close the wound on Sam.

The surgery was a success, with the fetus being able to continue gestating inside of his mother's womb until she made it to term. Ryland Harrison Drinnon was born via C-section about 10 weeks later, on July 13, 2021.

Amazingly, both Sam and Ryland were able to recover after the surgery. As of December 2021, about five months after Ryland's birth, he remained healthy and free of any heart problems. The Cleveland Clinic stated that they would continue to monitor the baby's health and development.

A video of a CGI recreation of the procedure was uploaded to Reddit on December 20, 2022, by user Wololo--Wololo. In just two short days, it was upvoted over 15,000 times.

Rather than one surgeon perform the procedure, it was a group of doctors among various pediatric and cariological sub-disciplines who all worked together to save the fetus's life. Users were amazed by their hard work (and made a joke or two at the same time).