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Fetal Heart Program
Today, many heart problems can be detected when a baby is still growing and developing inside the womb. Problems may show up during routine ultrasound screenings, and your obstetrician (OB) may then refer you to Children's for a fetal cardiac evaluation.
What services do you offer?
At our clinic, you receive an extensive evaluation based on your family history and the results from a fetal echocardiogram, an ultrasound of the fetus's heart.
The clinic also provides genetics counseling, which gives you and your family information on what role genetics may play in your baby's heart condition.
What's special about the experience at Children's?
Our Fetal Heart Program doctors follow babies with heart conditions prior to birth through to delivery to ensure the best treatment possible. We make a fetal diagnosis, and counsel your family on their options. If a heart condition is found, we coordinate prenatal care from that point on and work closely with your OB and the hospital where you plan to give birth.
We develop a treatment plan for your baby during the pregnancy, and have both a prenatal team and a postnatal team covering all of the baby's needs. Often, families will meet with heart surgeons to clarify plans for the newborn.
At some outlying hospitals, we can transmit live echocardiograms on your newborn to the Heart Center in Seattle. Based on the diagnosis, we can recommend whether your baby should be transported after birth to Children's.
Who's on the team?
Our prenatal team includes a perinatologist (high-risk obstetrician), a pediatric cardiologist, a neonatologist, a pediatric cardiac surgeon, a genetics counselor and a social worker. This team works closely with perinatologists at the University of Washington Medical Center.
Our post-natal team includes surgeons, anesthesiologists, other doctors and the transport team, which coordinates transportation, if needed, with other hospitals after birth.