Fi. Luks et al., ENDOSCOPIC TRACHEAL OBSTRUCTION WITH AN EXPANDING DEVICE IN A FETAL LAMB MODEL - PRELIMINARY CONSIDERATIONS, Fetal diagnosis and therapy, 11(1), 1996, pp. 67-71
Tracheal obstruction to promote lung growth may be a less aggressive a
lternative to open fetal surgery in the antenatal treatment of congeni
tal diaphragmatic hernia. Herein, we explore the feasibility of placin
g an occluding device through fetal tracheoscopy. A self-expanding umb
rella allowed adequate sealing of the tracheal lumen even as the trach
eal diameter more than doubled between 110 and 138 days of gestation (
term = 145 days) in a sheep model. Distal intratracheal pressures afte
r umbrella placement, and lung weight at delivery, were comparable to
those after formal tracheal ligation.