Released on = March 22, 2007, 2:15 pm

Press Release Author = Telic Media

Industry = Healthcare

Press Release Summary = The Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia (www.chop.edu)
prepares for the launch of the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit in January 2008.


Press Release Body =
The Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, Pa (March 16, 2007) - As The
Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia (www.chop.edu) prepares for the launch of the
Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit in January 2008, the world\'s first
comprehensive medical unit for mothers carrying a fetus with a known birth defect,
we are proud to share triumphant family stories from our album that highlight the
breadth of experience and medical expertise at the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and
Treatment, the leader in fetal diagnosis and treatment.

In January 1996, Felicia Rodriguez of West Palm Beach, Fla. went for routine
prenatal ultrasound at 20 weeks gestation and learned there was a very large, solid
mass in the baby\'s chest. A higher-level ultrasound showed that the baby had a
left-sided congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation (CCAM). N. Scott Adzick, M.D.
and his team from Children's Hospital were called to monitor the case. Another
ultrasound revealed the onset of hydrops, an abnormal accumulation of fluid
surrounding internal organs that is symptomatic of fetal heart failure and impending
fetal death.

Felicia Rodriguez met the CHOP team, underwent dignositic tests and was then quickly
prepared for fetal surgery (www.fetalsurgery.chop.edu). During the procedure,
surgeons opened her womb and then the fetal sac encasing 22-week-old Roberto and
removed the amniotic fluid. Dr. Adzick gently lifted the fetus\'s side and arm out of
the opening in the fetal sac, made an incision on the left side of the fetus\'s chest
and removed the enormous CCAM. With the fetal chest sutured shut, the fetus was
placed back into the womb. Four days later, Felicia Rodriguez was discharged from
the hospital and spent the next two and a half months quietly waiting in
Philadelphia at the Ronald McDonald House (www.rmhc.org).

The fetal heart failure resolved and lung tissue grew in utero. On May 13, 1996
Roberto Rodriguez III was born at 34 weeks gestation, weighing 6 1/2 pounds. "All I
could think of was how far we had been and how far we had come," said Felicia
Rodriguez. "They have given us a miracle." Roberto is now 10 years old and a lively,
healthy boy who likes baseball and soccer and is excelling in school. Says Mrs.
Rodriguez about the new Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit, "The new unit will
provide comfort and security to mothers whose labor and delivery are different than
others and help families feel that all the services they need are convenient, and
the specialized care is coordinated specifically for them."

For more information about fetal surgery and the Garbose Family Special Delivery
Unit, please visit www.fetalsurgery.chop.edu.




Web Site = http://www.fetalsurgery.chop.edu

Contact Details = Contact Information:
The Children\'s Hospital of Philadelphia
34th Street and Civic Center Boulevard
Philadelphia, PA 19104
Attention: Joey Marie McCool
Phone: (267) 426.6070
McCool@email.chop.edu