A baby has undergone surgery at a Dublin hospital while most of her body remained in the womb.
In what is understood to be the first such procedure successfully performed in the State, the baby had a massive tumour removed from her tongue during birth.
Aideen McMahon from Dundalk is now four weeks old and doing "fine". It was discovered during an ultrasound scan that she had a massive tumour protruding from her mouth which would have prevented her breathing independently.
The tumour, which measured 8cm by 4cm, was removed when doctors at the Rotunda Hospital performed what is believed to be the State's first successful "Exit" (ex utero intrapartum treatment) procedure - a special form of Caesarean section that is done when a foetus has an obstruction to the mouth and airway.
Prof Fergal Malone, a consultant obstetrician at the Rotunda, explained that a Caesarean section was carried out up to the point of delivering the baby's head only. The rest of the baby was left in the uterus with the placenta keeping the baby oxygenated - acting as a life-support machine for the foetus.
This allowed Helena Rowley, a consultant paediatric ear, nose and throat surgeon from Temple Street Hospital, sufficient time to remove the tumour before the umbilical cord was cut and the rest of the baby was delivered.
The operation took around 25 minutes and the tumour, known in medical circles as a teratoma of the tongue, was benign.
The baby, who was born on December 28th, was transferred after a few days to Temple Street and was taken back there last week by her parents Anthony and Yonradee McMahon for a check-up and is doing fine.
"We would fully expect the child to be completely unaffected by this," Prof Malone said.
Anthony McMahon and his Thai-born wife thanked the staff from both hospitals who treated Aideen."She is 100 per cent normal in her appearance and everything. She has big dark eyes. She's excellent. We are delighted," Anthony said.
And as the row over the location of a new national children's hospital continues, Prof Malone said this case was "a classic example" of why a children's hospital should be co-located with a maternity hospital.