When there is a concern regarding fetal growth or development, an individualized approach combining obstetric care, paediatric advice, prenatal imaging, genetics and midwifery support is essential.
Clinic hours
Wednesdays 8.45am - 5.00pm
Introduction
Assessment and care of the unborn baby is one of the newest and most rapidly advancing fields in medicine. Our understanding of fetal development and health has been accelerated by exciting progress in prenatal imaging, genomics, and screening technologies. When there is a concern regarding fetal growth or development, an individualized approach is required. The Fetal Medicine Clinic provides ‘one-stop’ comprehensive care, including obstetric management, paediatric advice, prenatal imaging, genetics and midwifery support. This ensures families have complete information regarding their baby’s health, development and future, and support for the remainder of the pregnancy.
"We now know there are long-term effects of the in utero environment on the health of the child and adult-to-be," says Professor Sue Walker. "Optimizing conditions for the baby before birth and careful planning for delivery can have a profound impact on life-long outcomes."
Our service
Our fetal medicine clinic is a multidisciplinary service providing prompt tertiary diagnostic assessment and ongoing management. The range of fetal conditions we look after include structural abnormalities, severe fetal growth restriction, pregnancies requiring fetal therapy and genetic syndromes.
Women have access to the full range of experts in maternal fetal medicine, fetal imaging, clinical genetics, genetic counselling, and paediatrics (neonatologists, surgeons and cardiologists), including ongoing antenatal care and postpartum follow-up.
Pregnant women with significant fetal conditions including, but not limited to: confirmed or suspected fetal structural or genetic abnormality, severe fetal growth restriction, monochorionic twin pregnancy, complicated dichorionic twin pregnancy, triplet pregnancy, known or suspected risk of familial genetic disorder, amniotic fluid disorder (polyhydramnios, oligohydramios), placental abnormality affecting fetal growth, maternal red cell alloimmunization, suspected congenital infection.
