If you are a woman contemplating pregnancy, or are already pregnant and are considered to be high-risk, our perinatal team is here to assist you. From counseling to sophisticated testing your care will be co-managed with your own physician throughout your pregnancy. You can take comfort in knowing that our perinatal team includes the most respected specialists with the highest level of training and expertise, as well as the most progressive technology available. We bring all of this to you to ensure that your high-risk pregnancy is a healthy one.
Perinatal and Maternal Fetal Medicine
It is the hope of every parent that their child be born healthy, but the reality is that three percent of births have a risk of mental or physical abnormality. Genetics and fetal medicine are rapidly advancing fields that can diagnose a number of disorders at an increasingly earlier stage in the pregnancy. And today, treatment of the fetus is available for some disorders with more therapies in development.
Prenatal diagnosis began more than 30 years ago with amniocentesis—a test still in use. CVS (chorionic villus sampling), another test, is used to identify genetic disorders such as Down’s syndrome and hundreds of other genetic disorders. In combination with these tests, sophisticated ultrasound and other diagnostic tests give parents the ability to make informed decisions about the health of the fetus.
Over the past decade the number of multiple pregnancies has more than doubled. Due to the increasing age of mothers at the time of pregnancy, the likelihood of twins has increased dramatically. For patients with multiple pregnancies, the risks of loss, prematurity, congenital anomalies and poor neonatal outcomes are dramatically higher than in single births. Our staff has significant experience with multiple pregnancies.
Our services begin with pre-conception counseling and assessment, and our staff works closely with reproductive and fertility specialists at the Medical Center. At this early stage we examine family history, previous pregnancy complications, other sibling health history, recurrent pregnancy losses, advanced age, infertility, maternal disease and endocrinology.
During the first trimester, it is important that an ob/gyn referral is made early so that testing can take place for nuchal translucency and Down’s syndrome.
It is during the second trimester that we are able to begin detailed fetal testing, fetal anatomy and three-dimensional testing. Our sophisticated diagnostic capabilities allow us to see details unavailable just a few years ago. With our three-dimensional obstetrical ultrasound with color Doppler that provides detailed images of the fetus, our physicians can evaluate growth rate, movement, breathing, positioning, placental conditions, number of fetuses present, abnormalities, abnormal mass, bleeding and detailed anatomy. These detailed views allow us to create a management plan and anticipate health issues in advance.
Services provided
• Amniocentesis
• CVS (chorionic villus sampling)
• Nuchal translucency testing
• Obstetrical ultrasound
• Three-dimensional testing