In utero fetal surgery using a milliwatt carbon dioxide laser

In utero surgery represents a future new frontier with unknown possibilities for medical intervention. Since the presently available microsurgery instruments are too cumbersome or indelicate, low-energy carbon dioxide lasers have been investigated as a tool that holds promise as a fetal scalpel and hemastatic device. Preliminary results demonstrate that continued investigation is necessary to limit the zone of tissue destruction in these most diminutive patients.