1.   Experts at the University of California at San Francisco, a leading center for fetal surgery, received the news about Jack with caution and enthusiasm.

2.   In addition to correcting birth defects that would cause paralysis or death if left until after birth, fetal surgery offers other potential benefits.

3.   Ruptures can also follow fetal surgery, which has become increasingly common to repair certain defects that would otherwise kill the fetus or cause severe disability.

4.   Unlike most diseases treated by fetal surgery, however, spina bifida is not lethal.

5.   All babies that undergo fetal surgery are delivered prematurely.

6.   Mrs. Armas, a registered nurse, began researching spina bifida and read about a group of doctors in Nashville who were pioneering fetal surgery.

7.   Open fetal surgery is still relatively rare and reserved for simple anatomic defects that are life-threatening.