Baby undergoes groundbreaking open-heart surgery during delivery

When Megan Wild gave birth to her son Luciano, she experienced not only the joy of welcoming her first child but also made medical history.

Doctors successfully performed open-heart surgery on Luciano during delivery — marking the first known success of its kind.

“I was really scared of what could happen because it’s a lot of what ifs, and you don’t know until the baby is there,” Wild, 35, told ABC News chief medical correspondent and board-certified cardiologist Dr. Tara Narula in an interview on “Good Morning America.”

Wild and her fiancé, Luciano Reynaga, learned at 24 weeks into her pregnancy that their baby had a severe heart condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. This congenital defect prevents the left side of the heart from developing properly, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

“When you’re pregnant, it’s supposed to be like a really exciting time, and I felt like all that excitement turned to fear,” Wild said about receiving the diagnosis.

In addition to the heart defect, doctors discovered Luciano’s heart lacked communication between its right and left sides — a complication that further reduced his chances of surviving long enough for the necessary surgeries, according to Dr. Sameh Said, chief of pediatric heart surgery at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, New York.

A Complex, Life-Saving Surgery

Facing the difficult diagnosis, Wild chose to move forward with an innovative procedure called an EXIT (Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment) surgery.

In an EXIT procedure, the baby is partially delivered but remains attached to the umbilical cord, allowing the mother to support the baby’s heart and lungs while surgeons perform life-saving interventions. In this case, doctors performed open-heart surgery mid-delivery to establish communication between both sides of the baby’s heart before completing the birth.

Dr. Said led the groundbreaking surgery on Jan. 6, successfully completing the procedure and delivering baby Luciano.

“It was successful, and also should open the pathway for other babies who have similar problems,” Said explained.

Less than 24 hours after birth, Luciano underwent the first of several planned heart surgeries. Now, six weeks later, he continues to grow stronger.

“I’m very thankful for the doctors and for everybody here [at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital], that they saved him and they helped him come into this world,” Wild said.

Luciano’s journey remains ongoing, but his story offers hope for other families facing similar diagnoses — and marks a significant milestone in pediatric cardiac care.

(ABC NEWS)