HOUSTON — The patient

07-10-2017

HOUSTON — The patient, still inside his mother’s womb, came into focus on flat screens in a darkened operating room. Fingers, toes, the soles of his feet — all exquisite, all perfectly formed.

But not so his lower back. The fetus, 24 weeks and two days old, less than two pounds, was about to have surgery. Introducing prenatal surgery for spina bifida.