ABSTRACT
Congenital neck masses are associated with high perinatal mortality and morbidity secondary to airway obstruction due to a mass effect of the tumor with subsequent neonatal asphyxia and/or neonatal death. Currently, the only technique designed to establish a secure neonatal airway is the ex utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) procedure, which involves neonatal tracheal intubation while fetal oxygenation is maintained by the uteroplacental circulation in a partial fetal delivery under maternal general anesthesia. We present a case with a giant cervical teratoma and huge displacement and compression of the fetal trachea that was treated successfully at 35 weeks of gestation with a novel fetoscopic procedure to ensure extrauterine tracheal permeability by means of a fetal endoscopic tracheal intubation (FETI) before delivery. The procedure consisted of a percutaneous fetal tracheoscopy under maternal epidural anesthesia using an 11-Fr exchange catheter covering the fetoscope that allowed a conduit to introduce a 3.0-mm intrauterine orotracheal cannula under ultrasound guidance. After FETI, a conventional cesarean section was performed uneventfully with no need for an EXIT procedure. This report is the first to illustrate that in cases with large neck tumors involving fetal airways, FETI is feasible and could potentially replace an EXIT procedure by allowing prenatal airway control.