An Israeli doctor—one of the most brilliant specialists in history—performs surgeries on unborn children in the womb: a life-saving feat that borders on science fiction!
Dr. Yuval Gielchinsky is the only surgeon in the Middle East who specializes in operating on unborn babies while they are still in the womb.
Dr. Gielchinsky treats fetal developmental defects directly inside the mother’s uterus. Heart, lung, and spinal surgeries on unborn children require the precision of a jeweler and are often the only alternative to abortion.
One day, a woman at 22 weeks of pregnancy came to see him. Her fetus was diagnosed with life-threatening anemia caused by an infection or an immune conflict. Nowadays, diagnosing fetal anemia doesn’t require taking blood from the umbilical cord—it can be seen on an ultrasound. The condition is treated with donor blood transfusions every 2–3 weeks. The blood is infused into the umbilical cord, abdominal cavity, or directly into the heart, after sedating the fetus with an anesthetic injected into its leg using an ultra-fine needle. This is a delicate, high-precision procedure that only a few doctors in the world can perform. But for Dr. Gielchinsky, it’s routine.
However, in this particular case, the pregnancy was so early that the umbilical cord was too thin, so the blood had to be infused directly into the fetal heart. During the transfusion, the heart suddenly stopped. The doctor had only a few minutes to restart it before irreversible brain damage would occur. He began closed-heart massage using the ultrasound probe, then injected adrenaline directly into the fetal heart with a syringe—and it started beating again.
In another case, a large tumor was growing in the fetus’s chest, preventing the lungs from expanding. Noticing that the tumor was receiving blood from a single vessel, the doctor inserted a needle into it and sealed it from the inside. Two weeks later, the tumor, cut off from its blood supply, was completely reabsorbed, and lung development resumed without interference. After birth, not a single trace of the tumor that had nearly killed the baby was found in the child’s body.
It’s hard to believe unless you see it with your own eyes: the unique work of a surgeon correcting fetal birth defects right inside the womb, saving future children from disability and death.
Behind the quiet voice and modest appearance of this Israeli doctor is a world-class professional, ready to fight to the very end for the lives of his tiniest patients.
