For the first time, doctors surgically repaired a malformed blood vessel in a baby’s brain while she was still in the womb. The baby, born in mid-March, was discharged from the hospital a few weeks after birth and has not required any medications or other treatments since then.
“I heard her cry for the first time and that just, I — I can’t even put into words how I felt at that moment,” Kenyatta Coleman of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, the baby’s mother, told CNN (opens in new tab) . “It was just, you know, the most beautiful moment being able to hold her, gaze up on her and then hear her cry.”
In a new report, published Thursday (May 4) in the journal Stroke (opens in new tab) , doctors described the first-of-its-kind procedure, which was conducted as part of an ongoing clinical trial (opens in new tab) . The trial is aimed at finding a new way to treat vein of Galen malformation (opens in new tab) (VOGM), a rare abnormality that affects the blood vessels that carry oxygenated blood from the heart to the brain.
In VOGM, certain arteries in the brain don’t link to capillaries — delicate, branching blood vessels that help slow blood flow — as they normally would. Instead, the arteries dump blood into veins at the base of the brain, and this blood flows at a high pressure. The high-pressure blood flow can cause congestive heart failure, high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs (pulmonary hypertension), brain tissue injury and loss, or an enlarged head (hydrocephalus).
Related: In a 1st, baby’s heart defect successfully treated with injected stem cells
VOGM affects an estimated 1 in 60,000 births, according to a statement from the American Heart Association (opens in new tab) (AHA). The standard treatment takes place after birth and involves blocking off the artery-to-vein connections within the malformation. However, this procedure can’t always reverse the onset of heart failure, and it can be too late to prevent disabling or life-threatening brain damage.
Doctors from Boston Children’s Hospital and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston launched a trial to treat VOGM sooner, while the fetus is still in the womb. The new approach uses an in utero surgery designed to reduce the aggressive blood flow through the VOGM. The trial will include an estimated 20 babies, in total, and the recently treated baby, Denver Coleman, was the first to undergo the procedure.RELATED STORIES—Mini-brains show how common drug freezes cell division in the womb, causing birth defects
—Father’s use of diabetes drug could raise his kids’ risk of birth defects
—Having a baby: Stages of pregnancy by trimester
“In our first treated case, we were thrilled to see that the aggressive decline usually seen after birth simply did not appear,” Dr. Darren Orbach (opens in new tab) , co-director of the Cerebrovascular Surgery & Interventions Center at Boston Children’s Hospital, an associate professor of radiology at Harvard Medical School and lead author of the case report, said in the AHA statement.
“We are pleased to report that at six weeks, the infant is progressing remarkably well, on no medications, eating normally, gaining weight and is back home,” Orbach said. “There are no signs of any negative effects on the brain.”
Denver and Kenyatta Coleman underwent the “transuterine” procedure 34 weeks and two days into the pregnancy. (The VOGM was diagnosed just after an ultrasound at 30 weeks, according to CNN.)
Following the procedure, Kenyatta Coleman began leaking amniotic fluid, meaning her “water had begun to break,” so doctors delivered the baby by induction of vaginal birth two days later. The newborn did not require any cardiovascular support or surgery after birth but was monitored in the neonatal intensive care unit for several weeks before discharge.
“While this is only our first treated patient and it is vital that we continue the trial to assess the safety and efficacy in other patients,” Orbach said, “this approach has the potential to mark a paradigm shift in managing vein of Galen malformation where we repair the malformation prior to birth and head off the heart failure before it occurs, rather than trying to reverse it after birth.”
LEBANON, Tenn. — Ryan Blaney and Team Penske have been fast with his No. 12 Ford Mustang this year only to have races slip away when it mattered most.
Not Sunday night.
Blaney ran away down the stretch for his first Cup Series victory of the year Sunday night at Nashville Superspeedway, then he celebrated with a burnout in front of the roaring fans after what he called a rough year.
“I’m ready to go celebrate,” Blaney said.
The 2023 Cup champ had been racing well with five top-five finishes over the first half of this season. He finally got to victory lane for his 14th career victory and first since Martinsville in November.
“I never gave up hope that’s for sure,” Blaney said. “We’ve had great speed all year. It just hasn’t really been the best year for us as far as good fortune. But [No.] 12 boys are awesome. They stick with it no matter how it goes.”
He became the ninth different winner this season and the fifth driver to win in as many races at Nashville. He also gave Team Penske a second straight Cup win at Nashville’s 1.33-mile concrete track.
Blaney, who started 15th, quickly drove his way to the front as he won the second stage. He easily held off Carson Hocevar by 2.83 seconds. Hocevar matched his career-best finish at Atlanta in February after complaining during the race that his No. 77 Chevrolet was undriveable.
“Either I’m really dramatic or they’re really good on adjustments,” Hocevar said. “Probably a little bit of both, but, yeah, proud of this group proud of this car. A place that is really, really difficult to pass, we’re able to go 26th to second.”
Denny Hamlin finished third in his 700th career Cup Series race, matching the third-place finish by Jeff Gordon at Darlington in 2013 for the best finish in a driver’s 700th race. Joey Logano, who won here last year, was fourth and William Byron fifth.
Hamlin was hoping for one more caution that never came after seven cautions for 35 laps.
“Just couldn’t run with the 12 [Blaney] there in the super long run,” Hamlin said. “After 40 laps, I could maintain with him. But then after that, he just pulled away and stretched it on us.”
There was a sprint to the finish under green forcing teams and drivers to pick and choose when to pit. Blaney had led 107 laps when he went to the pits under green flag on lap 248. Hamlin took the lead before going to pit road on lap 256.
Crew chief Jonathan Hassler said they decided on Blaney’s fifth and final pit stop to try to make sure he could get back out into the cleanest air possible.
“It was really nice just to finish off a race,” Hassler said.
Brad Keselowski had the lead when he went to the pits on lap 269. Blaney took the lead for the final 31 laps.
Waiting on a call
Hamlin raced Sunday night hoping to take advantage of his starting spot spot beside pole-sitter Chase Briscoe. Whether Hamlin would chase his third win this season had been in question with his third child, a boy, due the same day.
Hamlin practiced and qualified well, so he drove his No. 11 Toyota even as Joe Gibbs Racing had Ryan Truex on standby in case Hamlin got the call that his fiancee was in labor. Hamlin won the first stage and survived the final stretch without water or fresh air.
Tyler Reddick beat his boss Hamlin, a co-owner of his 23XI Racing team, to new parent status, which Reddick announced on social media earlier Sunday.
His family welcomed their second son at 2:20 a.m. on May 25, then Reddick followed up hours later by finishing 26th in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte.
Early night
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. didn’t finish his first race this year. He was the first out when Hocevar tapped his No. 47 Chevrolet, spinning Stenhouse into the wall between Turns 3 and 4 for the second caution of the race on lap 106.
Punishment and more penalties possible?
AJ Allmendinger started at the back of the field and served a stop-and-go penalty after the green flag for an unapproved adjustment to the splitter during Saturday’s practice. His No. 16 Chevrolet was sent back to the garage and then the scanning station before practice and qualifying.
The No. 66 Ford of Chad Finchum failed inspection twice leading to engineer Austin Webb’s ejection. The Garage 66 team also lost pit stall selection.
Up next
NASCAR heads to Michigan International Speedway for the Cup Series on June 8.
South Korea’s leading presidential candidates have both promised to legalize spot crypto ETFs, ease current regulations and launch a won-backed stablecoin.
The Kansas City Royals are calling up slugger Jac Caglianone, one of the top prospects in baseball, less than a year after choosing him with the sixth pick in the draft, sources tell ESPN.
In his first full professional season, the 22-year-old Caglianone has crushed pitching at Double-A and Triple-A, combining for 15 home runs and 56 RBIs across 50 games while hitting .322/.389/.593.
A 6-foot-5, 250-pound two-way player at the University of Florida, Caglianone transitioned to a full-time offensive player after joining the Royals organization following last July’s draft. Originally a first baseman, he has spent the majority of his Triple-A games in the outfield and is expected to play there when he joins the Royals for their series that starts Tuesday in St. Louis.
Caglianone’s calling card is top-of-the-scale power, seen in numerous tape-measure home runs this season. With exit velocities that rival Aaron Judge and Shohei Ohtani, Caglianone is expected to eventually be a staple in the middle of the Royals’ order along with Bobby Witt Jr.
For a player with such immense power, Caglianone has struck out in only 20% of his plate appearances this season. Kansas City was loathe to promote him, though, because of fears that he chased too many pitches outside of the strike zone and could be exposed by premium pitches in the major leagues.
Kansas City’s offensive struggles buried those fears enough to summon him to the big leagues.
The Royals, in fourth place in the American League Central with a 31-29 record, have allowed the second-fewest runs in Major League Baseball, 201, behind only the New York Mets. They’ve scored the second fewest, 194, ahead of only the Colorado Rockies, who at 9-50 are trending toward the worst record in MLB history.
The Royals’ outfielders in particular have struggled mightily. In 663 plate appearances this season, they are hitting .237/.283/.330 with seven home runs and 46 RBIs. The slugging percentage, home runs and RBI totals are all the worst in MLB.
