Intrauterine cystocentesis: A simple procedure to relieve anatomic and physiologic dysfunction in the fetus

The use of ultrasound has enabled accurate prenatal diagnosis of a variety of anomalies occurring in the fetus. Some of these may produce progressive deleterious effects on the vital organs such as the kidney and the brain. In utero interventional procedures have recently been developed in order to alleviate some of the adverse effects associated with such anomalies,13 so that irreversible organ damage will not occur before definitive surgery can be performed in the neonatal period. The Occurrence of intraabdominal cysts in the fetus has been reported.44 The benefits and risks of attempting to aspirate these cysts in utero in the antenatal period are not defined. The usual justification for aspirating cysts just before labor is to achieve vaginal delivery without running the risk of dystocia from the distended fetal abdomen. We report a case in which a large intraabdominal cyst in a fetus was drained at 31 weeks of gestation, which resulted in significant advantages to both the mother and the fetus.