Hyderabad doctors pioneer low-cost foetal immunotherapy for rare heart conditions

Doctors at Rainbow Children’s Heart Institute in Hyderabad have achieved a significant medical breakthrough by successfully treating rare and potentially fatal foetal heart conditions using direct foetal immunotherapy — a first-of-its-kind, low-cost intervention in India.

Breaking away from the conventional approach of administering medication to the mother, the medical team delivered immunoglobulin directly to the foetus. The innovative procedure was carried out on five foetuses diagnosed with immune-mediated heart conditions, all of whom showed marked clinical improvement and were delivered alive.

Senior paediatric cardiologist Dr Nageswara Rao Koneti, who led the initiative, said the success was the result of years of careful clinical research and adaptation of immunotherapy techniques to foetal medicine.

“This is a paradigm shift in how we approach high-risk foetal heart disease,” Dr Koneti said, adding that direct foetal treatment allows faster and more effective immune modulation compared to maternal therapy.

The minimally invasive procedure takes around 30 minutes, including approximately 15 minutes for the injection, and costs less than ₹10,000 — making it accessible and affordable in resource-limited settings.

Dr Koneti said India has made major medical advances, adding that the team plans to approach the government for further studies and wider awareness.

Clinicians say the success of direct foetal immunotherapy could transform care for high-risk immune-mediated foetal heart disease, offering families facing unexplained foetal cardiac loss a rare chance of survival before birth.