Summary
Services Available at a Fetal Medicine center
Routine obstetric scans | Time |
Early pregnancy scan | < 11 weeks |
Advanced First Trimester Scan (AFTS) (NT scan) OR Combined first-trimester screening (CFTS) for T21, T18, T13, & Preeclampsia (NT/NB/UAD scan + Dual marker test)OR Extended First Trimester Screening (EFTS) – CFTS +PlGF and AFP (UAD: Uterine artery Doppler) | 11-13+6 weeks (Note: We treat NT scan as a first-trimester anomaly scan which includes a detailed fetal anatomical survey) |
Early anomaly scan | 16+0 – 17+6 weeks |
Detailed (Targeted) Anomaly scan | 18+0 – 25+6 weeks |
Advanced Fetal Echocardiography | As indicated (Preferably > 20 weeks) |
Fetal wellbeing/growth scan (fetal Doppler always included) | > 26 weeks |
Fetal 3D & 4D scan | Preferably 26-34 weeks |
Counselling
- Counselling for pregnancy & fetal complications (All scans are accompanied with basic description + additional counselling of any complication if necessary, after an in-depth discussion with the referring obstetrician and the concerned paediatric superspecialist)
- Pre-pregnancy counselling in ‘bad obstetric history’ cases
- Combined Fetal-Genetics Clinic for parental and fetal genetic evaluation & counselling
Others
- Fetal monitoring and management of multiple pregnancies & their complications
- Fetal monitoring & management of Rh incompetency (Diagnosis of anemia and its treatment by “In utero fetal blood transfusion”)
- Scan for other indications
- Fetal MRI
- Fetal autopsies
Invasive Procedures
Diagnostic:
- Chorionic Villous Sampling (for various indications)
- Amniocentesis (for various indications)
- Fetal blood sampling / Cordocentesis (for various indications)
Therapeutic:
- Fetal Reduction in multifetal pregnancies
- Inuterofetal blood transfusion (IUT) in fetalanemia
- Amniodrainage / Amnioinfusion
- Fetal Shunt (Plural / UB)
- Interstitial laser / RFA in complicated Monochorionic twins (TTTS, TAPS / sIUGR / Discordant anomalies / TRAP sequence / etc.)
- Fetoscopic laser ablation for TTTS
Blood Tests related to Fetal Medicine
Serum Screening by UKNQAS accredited labs (recognised by FMF UK)
- 1st trimester Double marker test for Aneuploidies – βhCG& PAPP-A
- Extended First Trimester Screening (EFTS) (βhCG + PAPP-A + PlGF + AFP) for Aneuploidies, Preeclampsia & Neural Tube defects
- 2nd trimester Quadruple test
- Non-invasive cell free fetal DNA (NIPT)
- Maternal infection screening followed by diagnostic amniocentesis for fetal infections.
- Parental Karyotyping
- Thalassemia screening followed by diagnostic CVS if screen positive
- Molecular KT or microarray on products of conception (not blood test)
