A 19-year-old woman who has chronic kidney disease has given birth to a healthy baby girl. Lucy Sambrook, of Shrewsbury, had dialysis treatment six days each week before giving birth to daughter Vicky seven weeks premature.
Staff at the town’s Royal Hospital said it was rare for someone to give birth while needing dialysis but had used a special technique to treat her. The renal unit is the only one in the country to use that treatment. Miss Sambrook was taking tablets to control her condition but had to stop taking them when she became pregnant.
“My kidney function went down rapidly so I had to have a line put in and begin dialysis,” she said. She then underwent dialysis six days per week, with each session lasting more than three hours.
Renal unit nurse Wendy Owen said in her 15 years at the unit Lucy was the first dialysis patient to give birth. “It is not unheard of – it can happen, but it is extremely rare,” she said.
“This particular dialysis we used is used in Europe but we are the only unit in the country to use it.”
The technique has been described as being as effective as standard dialysis but very gentle on the body, reducing the side effects that normal dialysis can bring. It uses a specially modified form of acetate-free bio filtration.
That technique is already used on some dialysis patients, those with heart conditions for example, but was further specially modified by hospital staff.
After just over two weeks in hospital Vicky was allowed home.
