NORTH DAKOTA ( KXNET ) — Spina bifida is a birth defect that happens during the development of the central nervous system early on in pregnancy, and it affects one in every 2,000 births each year.

Some kids who are diagnosed with spina bifida need to use a walker or wheelchair for their entire lives.

However, for one mom in Ohio, a fetal surgery at the Fetal Center at Nationwide Children’s Hospital repaired her baby’s spina bifida in the womb.

The clinical team said initial tests showed that she was a perfect candidate for fetal surgery, as early intervention is changing the trajectory by reducing the severity of symptoms and improving long-term outcomes.

Experts made a small opening in the uterus, accessing the baby, and closed the spina bifida defect.

Nationwide Children’s is one of the few fetal centers in the Midwest, and across the U.S., that offers a full range of fetal therapies — including fetal intervention and fetal surgery — to treat conditions like cervical teratoma, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, congenital lung lesions, fetal heart defect, sacrococcygeal teratoma, spina bifida, and myelomeningocele (twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome).

In North Dakota, health organizations such as Sanford Health and the Shriners Children’s Bismarck Clinic , among others, offer a range of care for spina bifida. The key is to connect with such groups to determine what care is specifically provided and what other resources in the state are available.

“We’re able to provide the full range of fetal care,” said Nationwide Fetal Surgeon and Surgeon-in-Chief Oluyinka Olutoye. “Be it imaging, diagnostics, genetic testing, the counseling, being able to provide the medical therapies that are needed, and also the surgical therapies needed, be it minimal access surgery or open fetal surgery. The entire spectrum of care is what we are prepared to provide here at Nationwide Children’s Fetal Center.”

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