In Medical Breakthrough, Chinese Doctors Shrink Lung Tumour Of Baby Still In Mother's Womb

The baby had congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM), a rare condition in which abnormal lung tissue develops during pregnancy.

06 Oct 2026, 13:59 · NDTV

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Chinese doctors used microwave ablation to shrink a lung tumour in an unborn baby without incision
The baby had congenital pulmonary airway malformation causing severe chest compression and ascites
Microwave energy was delivered via a needle guided by ultrasound, destroying abnormal tissue safely

Are there long-term risks with fetal microwave ablation?

Chinese doctors have successfully shrunk a potentially life-threatening lung tumour in an unborn baby without making an incision, using a minimally invasive microwave procedure while the baby was still in the womb. The procedure was carried out by a team from Shenzhen Baoan Women's and Children's Hospital and the Chinese University of Hong Kong, South China Morning Post reported. The case was published on August 20 in the peer-reviewed journal Ultrasound in Obstetrics & Gynaecology.

The baby had congenital pulmonary airway malformation (CPAM), a rare condition in which abnormal lung tissue develops during pregnancy. It is usually not life-threatening, but severe cases can cause the abnormal growth to expand rapidly and put pressure on the baby's heart and lungs.

In this case, doctors discovered the problem when the mother was 22 weeks pregnant. Scans showed that the growth had reached about 5 cm and occupied much of the baby's right chest, severely compressing the heart and lungs. The baby had also developed ascites, a dangerous build-up of fluid in the abdomen.

Doctors decided that conventional treatment options were not suitable for the particular growth. Large fluid-filled CPAMs can sometimes be drained using a tube, while some severe cases may require foetal surgery. However, the tumour in this case consisted of tiny cysts and did not have a central blood vessel that could be targeted.

The medical team therefore opted for microwave ablation, a technique that uses heat to destroy abnormal tissue.

Using real-time, high-resolution ultrasound imaging, doctors guided a thin ablation needle through the mother's abdomen and uterus and into the tumour in the baby's chest. Microwave energy was then delivered through the needle, generating heat that destroyed the abnormal tissue from the inside.

The heating process took about two minutes. Doctors continuously monitored the procedure to ensure that nearby healthy organs were not damaged.

The results were seen within days. Three days after the procedure, the tumour had shrunk significantly and the fluid build-up in the baby's abdomen had disappeared.

The baby was eventually delivered by Caesarean section at 37 weeks, weighing about 2.9 kg. The newborn recorded an Apgar score of 10 and was reported to be in good health. At four months old, the baby remained symptom-free and had not required further surgery.

Doctors described the case as a milestone in foetal medicine but cautioned that the procedure's safety and effectiveness cannot be established from a single case. If further research shows that the technique is safe, effective and reproducible, microwave ablation could potentially become another treatment option for severe cases of CPAM.

CPAM is estimated to occur in roughly one in 25,000 to 35,000 pregnancies. While most cases are manageable, rapidly growing lesions can, in rare situations, cause severe complications and threaten the baby's survival.

The latest case offers a possible new approach for such difficult pregnancies, but more studies will be needed before the procedure can be considered a standard treatment.

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