F A M O U S

by Dornan

Fetal and Maternal Obstetrics Ultrasound Services

The Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) unit at Al Zahra Hospital Dubai is here to cater to all your needs advanced maternal and fetal medicine needs throughout your entire pregnancy.

What is Fetal Medicine?

It involves the treatment of mothers and their fetuses before, during, and immediately after delivery. Among other things, consultant MFM’s provide prenatal care, treat patients, and perform surgeries. Both low and high-risk pregnancies can be handled by an MFM Consultant.

Fetal Medicine experts are specifically trained in looking after the mother and fetus throughout the pregnancy to ensure the utmost safety and best possible results. Additionally, advanced scans, investigations, and genetic tests, as well as low-risk antenatal care, are also a part of Fetal Medicine care.

F.A.M.O.U.S by Dornan stands for Fetal and Maternal Obstetrics Ultrasound Services. It is a unit that looks at fetal medicine and provides highly specialized care for both the mother and her baby especially in high-risk pregnancies.

Women at high risk of developing problems during pregnancy are treated by a multidisciplinary team of highly skilled professionals. We encourage you to see one of our specialists even if you initially think your pregnancy, is low risk.

Dr. Dornan is in charge of numerous unique programs including F.A.M.O.U.S, in which she looks after any possible complications in both low and high-risk pregnancies. These complications include twins and higher multiples, placental abnormalities, fetal anomalies, genetic disorders, nutritional issues and infectious diseases.  Professor Dornan puts a focus on the diagnosis and treatment of expectant mothers and their unborn babies.

Why Would You See a Fetal Maternal Medicine Specialist?

1. Get an advanced level of baby and mother care with the latest technologies
2. You are referred to a specialist due to a potential risk to the baby or mother
3. You have a high-risk pregnancy

Who should see a Fetal & Maternal Specialist

• Women who have had a difficult pregnancy in the past
• Women with underling Chronic Diseases
• Women who have previously given birth to a baby with a medical issue
• Women who have multiple pregnancies
• Women who are informed by their doctor of having a high risk pregnancy due to various medical conditions

Maternal & Fetal medicine Services

• Early Pregnancy Scans
• Fetal Echocardiography
• Multiple Pregnancies
• Late pregnancy
• Morphology (The Big Scan)
• Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing
• Nuchal Translucency Scan

Nuchal Scan – First Trimester Advance Screening

During the combines testing during the first trimester, the scanning and testing aim to calculate the risk of having a baby with chromosomal abnormalities. Each woman will be given an estimate of her individual risk for this pregnancy. This is calculated by taking into account the age of the mother, measurement of two proteins in the mother’s blood and the scan findings of nuchal translucency thickness, nasal bone, blood flow through the fetal heart and fetal liver and the presence or absence of any fetal abnormalities. Parents will receive counselling upon receiving of results and risk factors.

Early Anomaly Scan

Usually carried out before 18 weeks of pregnancy, this ultrasound scan checks for significant abnormalities in the baby

• Detailed Anomaly Scan: This routine ultrasound scan is usually performed between 18 to 24 weeks of pregnancy. During the scan, a series of measurements of the fetus (fetuses) are taken to assess fetal growth, each part of the fetal body is examined in detail, and the position of placenta and the amount of amniotic fluid are determined.
• Cervical Scan: carried out vaginally, this ultrasound scan can detect any changes in the cervix that may lead to a preterm (premature) birth; it’s offered to high-risk patients who have previously had a premature baby and women with multiple pregnancies.
• Doppler Scan: An ultrasound scan that assesses your baby’s health, measuring blood flow in various parts of the body including the umbilical cord, placenta, brain and heart, and checking the baby has all the oxygen needed via the placenta.
• Fetal Wellbeing Scan: carried out at around 32-34 weeks of pregnancy. You may be offered this ultrasound scan if you’ve had previous complications of pregnancy such as pre-eclampsia, growth restriction, diabetes, or stillbirth; or if you have a problem with your current pregnancy. The scan measures the size of the baby’s head, abdomen and thigh bone; estimates the baby’s weight; checks for movements; evaluates the placental position and appearances; measures the amount of amniotic fluid; and assesses blood flow to the placenta and fetus using the Doppler ultrasound.
• Fetal ECHO SCAN: This scan provides a detailed image of the baby’s heart ad any cardiac anomalies.
• Non Invasive Pre-Natal Test:This particular test looks into the fetal DNA in the mother’s blood and indicates whether the fetus is at high or low risk of having the most common chromosomal conditions

Antenatal Diagnostic and Management of Fetal Abnormalities:

• Cordocentisis –  is an invasive test to check for any genetic malformations by taking a blood sample from vessels in the fetal umbilical cord.
• CHORIONIC VILLUS SAMPLING (CVS)This test is usually done between 11 and 16 gestational weeks and is a needle test to examine a sample of cells taken from the placenta to check the chromosomes and the genes of the baby.
• AMNIOCENTESISThe test is offered between 11 and 16 weeks of pregnancy and is a needle test where a very small amount of amniotic fluid is taken to test for chromosomal or genetic syndromes.
• REGULAR MONITORING OF HIGH RISK PREGNANCIES USING ULTRASOUND: These tests provide important information about the baby’s health and development. It is the choice of parents in the wish to undergo all recommended scans or not.