Madurai hospital performs rare surgery on woman

A 42-year-old woman, with unicornuate uterus, a condition which does not allow a woman to bear a child, has delivered a baby girl in a city hospital, following a novel procedure.

Shanthi (name changed), childless for 11 years, was admitted to Guru Hospital recently with right unicornuate uterus.

Only one in 4,000 women had this problem, the reason for which was not known, said Kalpana, obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Explaining the procedure at a press conference here on Saturday, the doctor said that in such cases there was a deformity in the uterus. In such patients, infertility, abortion and ectopic pregnancy were common.

“Since the patient was 42 years old, she had to undergo in-vitro fertilisation as a result of which she conceived three babies.

As the uterus could not carry three babies, foetal reduction was done. Growth of the baby was monitored and a surgery, ‘metroplasty,’ was performed in which the right side of the uterus was expanded to accommodate the infant.

“The woman delivered a baby weighing 2.8 kg,” the doctor said.