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REPORTER'S NOTE The patient was a 24-week-old fetus, still inside his mother's womb. In late September, surgeons at Texas Children's Hospital in Houston performed an experimental operation to repair a [...]

The article provides information on fetoscopic surgery for spina bifida, underwent by Charley Royer as a six-month fetus. Topics discussed include how the condition, spina bifida, occurs, two advantages of the fetal surgery, and signs of a condition called tethered cord, wherein scar tissue at the surgery site might grow into the patient's spine and entangle nerves.

A reprint of the article "The Patient Within," by Denise Grady, which appeared in the October 23, 2017 issue of "The New York Times," is presented. It discusses the surgery called spina bifida conducted to a 24-week-old fetus who was still on his mother's womb, performed by doctors Michael A. Belfort and William Whitehead. Also discussed the safety of the procedure.

The article offers information on an experimental technique that can treat severe spina bifida in a 24-week-old fetus and can result in great outcomes for children born with the disorder.

The article focuses on the operation on an unborn child for spina bifida, still in the uterus, at the Texas Children's Hospital, Texas, and talks of potential risk of fetal surgery and mortality, country music during surgery of pregnant mother Lexi Royer, and photography of surgery.

The article discusses scientific considerations regarding attempts to pass anti-abortion legislation in U.S. states which would ban abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy due to a claim that a human fetus can feel pain beyond that point. Topics addressed include the use of anesthesia during fetal surgery, research on the connection between the development of the brain and fetal pain, and scientists' attitudes towards the applicability of their research towards the abortion debate.

To the Editor: Re ''Spina Bifida Study Is a Success, Opening a Door for Fetal Surgery'' (front page, Feb. 10): [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For years, surgeons have been trying to find ways of operating on babies in the womb, reasoning that medical abnormalities might be more easily fixed while a fetus is still developing. But with tremendous risks to babies and mothers, and a mixed record of success, fetal surgery is mostly used when babies are likely to die otherwise. Now, for the first time, a rigorous clinical trial shows that fetal surgery can help babies with a condition that is not usually life-threatening. Babies with a form of spina bifida, a debilitating spinal abnormality, were more likely to walk and experience fewer neurological problems if operated on before being born rather than afterward. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Reports on a fetal-surgery procedure that shows promise in reducing some of the effects of spina bifida, a birth defect. Damages that can be caused by spina bifida; What the findings regarding the surgery show; Information on the procedure.

Reports the success of a brain surgery procedure on a fetus in Nashville, Tennessee. Condition of the baby, Neal Borkowski; Details on the operation; Comment from doctors Joseph Bruner and Noel Tulipan.

Reports on an operation that may open a new era in fetal medicine--lifesaving major surgery on a fetus for a hernia of the diaphragm, a fairly common and usually fatal congenital malformation. The operation was successful and a healthy baby boy was delivered seven weeks later.

Questions whether a fetus aborted by the `partial-birth abortion' late in the second trimester, or early in the third trimester, feels pain. Response to questions asked; Scientific backing for answers given.