Complex Case to Save Mother and Unborn Baby

Doctors describe Michelle’s case as nothing short of a miracle. In a critical condition – six months pregnant, with respiratory complications and in need of heart surgery – medical teams came together in a race to save her, and her unborn baby’s lives.

Michelle, a 33-year-old mother of one, began suffering from a respiratory illness in early 2020. Her health began to deteriorate rapidly so she was taken to a maternity hospital where she was diagnosed with mitral valve stenosis – a life-threatening heart condition that required surgery. She was brought to Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi in a critical condition, unresponsive and in a coma.

Michelle was six months pregnant with her second child at the time, making her situation even more worrying. Doctors describe Michelle’s case as one of the most complex they have ever seen. They knew that without treatment, Michelle, and her baby, only had a couple of hours to live.

Due to her pregnancy, open surgery was not an option. With five medical teams accompanying her, including obstetric and pediatric teams from other hospitals, Michelle immediately had a minimally invasive catheterization to allow doctors to operate on her heart. For her safety, and that of her unborn child, her baby was delivered at the same time.

Today, after going through on of the most complicated cases her medical teams had ever seen, Michelle and her baby boy - the first ever to be delivered at Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi - are healthy and thriving.