Patna, Oct. 18: An infertility expert has carried out a path-breaking multiple foetal reduction surgery on a 38-year-old woman, who had conceived four babies through in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), in a city-based clinic.

The surgery terminated two of her foetuses, increasing survival chances for the rest of the foetuses and the woman.

The first-of-its-kind surgery to be held in the state was performed six days ago on the three-month pregnant woman from Biharsharif. “The woman had approached us a few months ago with some fertility complications. We suggested IVF for her and four embryos were transplanted in her womb. As it happens in most IVF cases, the woman developed multiple pregnancies and all four embryos started developing,” said Dr Himanshu Roy, who runs Srijan Clinic in the Kankerbagh area

“Four embryos in a woman’s womb reduce chances of a healthy delivery and increase complications for both the babies and the mother. Keeping this in mind, we decided to abort two of the embryos. About a year ago, we had aborted one of the embryos when a woman was developing triplets. However, it was like taking a bigchance in case of quadruplets as the risk factor for the babies increases manifold in such cases. Fortunately, the surgery on the woman from Biharsharif was successful,” he added.

Such cases were earlier referred to hospitals such as All India Institute of Medical Sciences and Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in New Delhi. Those who could not afford going outside the state had to bear the complications of multiple pregnancies as no such surgeries were performed in the state.

“We have started such surgeries in the state and everything is fine till now. We took a chance with the woman pregnant with quadruplets. After the surgery, the woman and the two foetuses are doing fine,” Roy told The Telegraph.

The doctor said perinatal mortality and morbidity were co-related to the number of foetuses.