Surgical world premiere

Magdalena (2) successfully operated on her back

The girl was born with an open back(Bild: Manuela N.)

Little Magdalena from Germany recently underwent open back surgery at the Salzburg Regional Hospitals (Salk). A surgical premiere was used. 

Magdalena was born with an open back in Saxony (Germany) around two years ago. After an initial operation in Leipzig, which took place shortly after birth, there was excessive scarring, a common complication. The hard and inelastic scar tissue sticks to the surrounding tissue.

Magdalena is on the road to recovery.(Bild: Manuela N.)

Professor Krause operated on Magdalena shortly after her birth in Leipzig, where he worked at the time. At the beginning of 2024, he came to Salzburg University Hospital and performed a necessary second operation here a few days ago, which the family's German health insurance company had approved.

From pregnant women for children
As part of a healing experiment, he inserted nanovesicles into the wound via an infusion solution. These incredibly small "bio-drones" transport information between cells. In this specific case, this meant: "The layers of skin and connective tissue can heal together in a very balanced way in the area of the incision without the scar tissue sticking together. Put simply, we prevent excessive scarring," explains transfusion physician Professor Eva Rohde.

"Magdalena is doing very well, everything has healed well. We are currently working on sitting freely. That's actually going quite well, but she doesn't quite have the confidence in herself yet," says her mother Manuela N.

Magdalena has visibly benefited from the world's first documented nanovesicle treatment for an open spine (spina befida). "She wants to climb more and more. Her legs don't really want to do it yet, but we are working on the physiotherapy," reports the happy mother.

The nanovesicles come from donations from healthy pregnant women who carried healthy babies in their wombs. "The material comes from the umbilical cord. We can produce thousands of doses from one donation," says Rohde.