You can imagine my surprise when I was watching the Grey's Anatomy/Private Practice Crossover event this week and the main focus was on a procedure involving an unborn baby suffering from an amniotic band wrapped around his legs. The procedure involved actually operating in utero to seperate the band from the baby's legs. Thankfully we never had to even consider this. I hope you had a chance to check out the episode this week, it was a good one and one that was very close to my heart!!
When an ultrasound reveals that amniotic bands are wrapped around the legs of Sloan's baby, Mark summons Addison to perform the surgery. During surgery, Addison estimates that a complication means there's a 5 percent chance that the procedure can kill Sloan, so Mark orders Addison to stop. Sloan insists that she can't take care of a baby with no legs and Mark tells her he won't let that happen.
Amniotic Band Syndrome also known as Amnion Rupture Sequence is an uncommon process which begins when the amnion (the inner membrane of the placental structure) breaks. This exposes the fetus to fibrous bands from the amnion and chorion.
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