Researchers enable sheep fetus to survive for 12 days in artificial placenta

Catalan researchers from the BCNatal project have enabled a sheep fetus to survive for 12 days in an artificial placenta. This is the first step towards, in the not-too-distant future, caring for extremely premature babies of 23 to 24 weeks outside of their mother's uterus.

The study, led by Clínic and Sant Joan de Déu hospitals and founded by La Caixa Foundation, has achieved results in less than two years of investigation and with less than €4 million, making it one of the two most advanced projects worldwide.

Scientists expect to start conducting clinical trials and to test it on human fetuses in two to three years, as they would have an almost zero survival rate with today's technology. So far, the experiment has only been tested in sheep fetuses.