A fetus with Kasabach-Merritt syndrome, a rare and often fatal vascular tumor, was saved thanks to treatment administered before birth. The condition, detected in the seventh month of pregnancy in Mulhouse, caused a mass in the baby's neck that threatened to suffocate the infant and was destroying its platelets.
Alerted to the situation, vascular specialists in Lyon proposed prenatal treatment with Sirolimus, administered to the mother and capable of crossing the placenta. This was a world first for this type of tumor. The drug slowed the growth of the mass and stabilized the fetus's blood clotting.
Issa was born by cesarean section in November 2025 in Strasbourg. He breathed without assistance, required only one transfusion, and his tumor had significantly shrunk. The doctors praised this "exceptional" treatment, which prevented a stillbirth.
Now three months old, the infant still has a mass on his face but is developing normally. Under the care of a doctor in Mulhouse, he continues his treatment and is progressing well, much to the relief of his mother, who says she has "kept hopeful" despite her anxiety.
Sophie de Duiéry
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