Department of Neurosurgery
News

Attleboro Family Participates in First Fetal Spina Bifida Operation in New England

Credit: Bill Murphy/Lifespan

“ATTLEBORO — Emily Hess had been pregnant three times before, and each pregnancy was healthy and happy, culminating in problem-free, unmedicated, natural births.

So when the Attleboro woman [and her husband] learned 19 weeks into her fourth pregnancy that her newest son had developed a spina bifida lesion, it was jarring to say the least…

They could travel to Philadelphia, where the Children’s Hospital had for years been performing the surgery necessary in cases such as theirs. But with her three other sons, who are 2, 4 and 6, travel wasn’t an option.

That led them to Hasbro Children’s Hospital of Rhode Island, where pediatric surgeons have been waiting for a willing and qualified patient with spina bifida, a congenital spinal defect.”

Read the Full Story: Attleboro Family Participates in First Fetal Spina Bifida Operation in New England

Featured

Konstantina A. Svokos, DO, MS

Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery and Pediatrics
Director, Fetal Neurosurgery
Co-Director, Neuroplastics
Co-Director, Center for Surgical Treatment of the Developing Brain and Spine

Petra M. Klinge, MD, PhD

Professor of Neurosurgery
Director, Pediatric Neurosurgery Division
Director, Center for Surgical Treatment of the Developing Brain and Spine