HCMC doctors perform rare fetal heart intervention for Singaporean patient

A pregnant woman from Singapore, whose fetus was diagnosed with a severe congenital heart defect and a high risk of stillbirth, was referred by Singapore’s KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital to Children's Hospital 1 and Tu Du Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City for treatment—due to the unavailability of this advanced procedure in Singapore.

Fetal intervention specialists from Tu Du Hospital, in collaboration with pediatric cardiologists from Children's Hospital 1, successfully performed a complex fetal cardiac intervention on a 22-week-old fetus diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening condition known as absent pulmonary valve syndrome on May 28.

After diagnosing the abnormality, doctors at KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital assessed that the fetus had a high likelihood of in-utero death. Recognizing recent breakthroughs in fetal cardiac intervention in HCMC, they referred the case to Vietnam, marking a significant expression of trust in the city's medical capabilities.

Upon arrival in Ho Chi Minh City, the patient underwent thorough fetal cardiac assessment at Children’s Hospital 1, which confirmed the original diagnosis. The medical teams from Tu Du and Children’s Hospital 1 then held a virtual consultation with leading experts from Australia and France. Consensus was quickly reached: early intervention was necessary to save the fetus.

This case marked the ninth fetal cardiac intervention conducted in HCMC, but it was considered the most technically demanding to date, due to the fetus’s extremely early gestational age—only 22 weeks and weighing just 600 grams—and the severity of the condition.

The first intervention attempt on May 22 was unsuccessful. However, after meticulous preparation and seamless multidisciplinary coordination, the second attempt on May 28 was completed successfully.