Baby Elisabeth’s care journey at Connecticut Children’s began, incredibly enough, before she was even born. At just 23 weeks’ gestation, her parents, Anna and Jared, learned that their baby had a cyst growing on her lung that was putting pressure on her tiny, still developing heart. She was beginning to show signs of heart failure in the womb. Fortunately, Connecticut Children’s Fetal Care Center is led by one of the world’s most experienced fetal surgeons, Timothy Crombleholme, MD. He knew what needed to be done to save Elisabeth’s life.

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A procedure once beyond imagination

To relieve the pressure on Baby Elisabeth’s heart, Dr. Crombleholme’s team planned to place a tiny shunt to drain fluid from the cyst into the amniotic fluid outside her chest. Using a fiber-optic instrument called a fetoscope—a tube just three millimeters wide—Dr. Crombleholme carefully navigated through Anna’s abdominal wall and uterus and into the baby’s chest and the cyst. This procedure, known as a fetal thoracoscopy, allowed him to see inside the cyst and ensure that, once the shunt was in place, it would fully decompress.

 

And that’s exactly what happened. As soon as the shunt was in, the cyst shrank by 70% and Elisabeth’s heart moved back to its normal position. When she was born seven weeks later, weighing just over three pounds, the neonatal care team was ready. They intubated Elisabeth to help her breathe, and inserted a tube into her chest to replace the shunt, preventing the deflated cyst from filling with air. To survive on her own, Elisabeth needed to have the cyst removed entirely, along with the part of the lung it was attached to. 

 

First, she needed to grow   

Before surgery to remove the cyst could be performed, Elisabeth needed to get bigger and stronger. After six weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), she was finally ready for the second surgery. Over several hours, Dr. Crombleholme’s team successfully removed the portion of her lung containing the cyst. She was now able to breathe on her own. After 77 days in the NICU, Jared and Anna finally could take her home.

Baby Elisabeth, Fetal Care Patient and her family

 

A lifeline for families

Parents who need cutting-edge fetal medicine to save their baby’s life don’t have many options. Connecticut Children’s is one of only nine Fetal Care Centers across the country able to offer the fullest range of fetal interventions. Our patient volumes since the Fetal Care Center opened in May 2023 have only further confirmed the need for these services in the region. By the end of May 2025, 331 patients from across the country had come to the Fetal Care Center:

 

  • Connecticut: 284 patients
  • Massachusetts: 40 patients
  • Oregon: 1 patient
  • Oklahoma: 1 patient
  • New York: 2 patients
  • New Jersey: 1 patient
  • Vermont: 1 patient

There have been 32 surgical procedures, 220 deliveries, and 2,035 patient visits.