Unborn twin given blood transfusion in womb

Paul and Faye Brown said they were warned the larger baby might not survive

Doctors in Newcastle attempted to save the lives of two unborn babies by giving one blood transfusions while still inside the womb.

The girls had twin-twin transfusion syndrome, with one losing blood to the other via connected blood vessels.

The baby receiving too much blood from her sister, which put pressure on her heart, later died.

The babies have now been delivered and doctors say the smaller, anaemic girl is "doing as well as can be expected".

Consultant obstetrician Dr Stephen Sturgiss said giving the smaller baby extra blood had been "tricky",

"It involves introducing a fine needle into a blood vessel that's only three or four millimetres wide," Dr Sturgiss said.

The in-womb blood transfusion requires a needle to hit a blood vessel about 3mm wide

At 26 weeks, the babies had been too young to be delivered early.

The transfusions were needed because attempts to close the vessels joining the twins' blood supply had failed twice.

Dr Sturgiss said this was "extremely unusual".

"In many years of working here and looking after couples where the pregnancy's been complicated by twin-twin transfusion, I've never seen that happen before," he said.

The circumstances are so rare there is little past experience to draw on, he said.

The babies' parents, Paul and Faye Brown, said they were told at every hospital visit the larger baby was "probably not going to make the next scan".