Fetal Medicine

We provide the highest standard of care by highly skilled specialist consultants in fetal medicine. We do not have any sonographers in our team because we want to provide comprehensive care of screening and diagnosis to our families. We are fortunate to use state of the art scanning equipment to reassure the majority of families that your baby is developing normally. If you are looking for a second opinion or we detect a condition, for example, a fetal anomaly, growth restriction (small baby), increased chance of preterm birth or abnormal placental development - we will provide comprehensive counselling about the diagnosis, the implications for you and the baby, we can perform any tests if required and with you we will plan appropriate care for you and the baby.

Routine scans by consultants are performed for the following indications:

Dating scan
Nuchal screening at 11-14 weeks
Anomaly scans at 21-23 weeks
Uterine artery Doppler screening
Cervical length assessment
Growth scans
Placental localization
Reduced fetal movement
Post-dates pregnancy

Pre-counselling

Our consultants can see you before you embark on a pregnancy. This may be particularly useful if you have concerns about your health or have a history of complications in pregnancy i.e miscarriage, fetal abnormality, premature delivery.

Second Opinion

Our fetal medicine consultants can provide a second opinion if you have any concerns about the health of your baby.

Referrals are made for the following indications:

Invasive procedures – chorion villus sampling and amniocentesis
Suspected fetal abnormality
Suspected fetal cardiac abnormality
Genetic predisposition to fetal problems
Fetal growth problems
Previous pregnancy problems

Invasive testing

In some cases, parents may be concerned about a known or suspected genetic condition in themselves or their family. Our fetal medicine consultants are able to carry out invasive tests for women whose pregnancies are at risk of conditions which may have a genetic basis.
Invasive diagnostic tests are optional tests that will give a definite answer about specific chromosome differences in babies, for example, trisomy 21 (Down syndrome), trisomy 18 and trisomy 13.

Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS) (11-15 weeks)

Chorionic Villus Sampling is an invasive procedure used to diagnose chromosomal abnormalities, like Down’s Syndrome. It can also be used to detect various genetic syndromes e.g. Cystic Fibrosis. It is performed by one of our fetal medicine consultants under ultrasound guidance between 11 and 15 weeks of pregnancy.

Under local anaesthetic a fine needle is passed through the tummy and into the womb so that a sample of placental tissue can be obtained.

The tissue is sent to the laboratory for chromosome analysis and the rapid result is available within 48 working hours. As the procedure involves putting a needle into the womb, it carries a small risk (around 1%) of miscarriage.

Amniocentesis

Amniocentesis is an invasive procedure used to diagnose chromosomal abnormalities like Down’s Syndrome. It is performed by one of our fetal medicine consultants under ultrasound guidance and can be carried out from 15 weeks of pregnancy.

A fine needle is passed through the tummy and into the womb so that a small sample of fluid from around the baby can be obtained. The fluid is sent to the laboratory for chromosome analysis and the rapid result is available within 48 working hours. As the procedure involves putting a needle into the womb, it carries a small risk (around 1%) of miscarriage.