Change Of Heart

By Text By Alice Park Sunday, Mar. 03, 2002
    • Hitting the Target...

    1 POSITIONING THE FETUS
    After mother and fetus were anesthetized, physicians massaged the mother's belly to bring the fetal heart near the belly wall. Then a doctor pressed down on the mother's abdomen to hold the fetus in place

    2 AIMING FOR THE HEART
    With a specially designed needle, doctors aimed for the apex of the heart, which was the size of a grape. Once inside, they worked their way to the defective valve

    ...and Fixing the Flaw

    3 GETTING WIRED
    Doctors replaced the needle tip with a thin wire that they threaded through the constricted valve

    4 OPENING THE VALVE
    A small balloon was snaked along the wire and inflated with fluid to prop open the valve

    5 LETTING THE BLOOD FLOW
    To make sure the balloon did its job, doctors inflated and deflated it six or seven times

    Sources: Brigham & Women's Hospital, the Children's Hospital