About Our Services
The Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment provides complete care — fetal diagnosis, prenatal management, delivery and postnatal care — for women carrying babies with known birth defects.
Our care is shaped by our belief that the fetus is a separate patient. Therefore, every member of our multidisciplinary team is an expert in caring for both unborn babies, their mothers and families.
Comprehensive care for mother and baby
We offer wide-ranging care for mom and baby including:
- Diagnostic testing and expectant management at the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment.
- Delivery and postnatal care at the Center's Lynne L. and William M. Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit, the world's first birthing unit dedicated to mothers of babies with known fetal defects.
- Neonatal intensive care in CHOP's nationally renowned Harriet and Ronald Lassin Newborn/Infant Intensive Care Unit and Evelyn and Daniel M. Tabas Cardiac Intensive Care Unit.
- Access to the expertise and full resources of Children's Hospital in every pediatric subspecialty.
- Emotional support, individualized and couple's counseling, and social work services provided by our dedicated psychosocial service team, including a clinical psychologist and social workers.
Full range of diagnostic testing
Accurate diagnosis and careful monitoring are essential to planning the most successful course of treatment for a full range of fetal diagnoses. Our program offers a full range of the most advanced testing modalities, including:
- Targeted sonographic evaluation of structural fetal anomalies
- Prenatal diagnostic procedures: amniocentesis, chorionic villus sampling (CVS), fetal blood sampling and fetal skin/muscle biopsy
- Ultrafast fetal MRI to pinpoint structural abnormalities
- Fetal echocardiography
- Fetal MRI
- Diagnostic fetoscopy
- Low-dose fetal CT scan
- Microarray analysis
Latest treatment advances and options
The Center team is constantly working to refine and advance the techniques used to treat fetal anomalies before and after birth. Recent research and publications on various birth defects can be found on our publication pages.
Some treatments and procedures we use include:
- Minimally invasive fetoscopic surgery, including:
♦ Bladder and chest shunt placement
♦ Fetoscopic laser ablation (LASER)
♦ Bipolar cord coagulation (BCC)
♦ Radio frequency ablation (RFA) - Open fetal surgery for life-threatening or devastating fetal conditions
- Ex utero intrapartum therapy (EXIT)
- Fetal cardiac intervention
- In utero stem cell transplantation
- Intrauterine blood transfusions
- Postnatal surgery
Counseling and support
- Genetic and prenatal counseling
- Evaluation and intervention for preexisting mental health conditions and assessment of risk for postpartum mood and anxiety disorders
- Supportive therapy focused on coping strategies, communication and emotional preparation for each stage of the medical journey, including pregnancy, delivery, the intensive care stay and after discharge
- Medical ethics panel review
- Perinatal Palliative Care
- Other family-centered support services
Contact us – we can help!
For more information or to request an appointment, call 1-800-IN-UTERO (1-800-468-8376) or use our convenient online form.
Updated: January 2012
Contact Us
- 1-800-468-8376
- (1-800-IN-UTERO)
- Contact Us Online
