3. National Survey 2016
• Prof Keelin O’Donoghue
(Principal Investigator; Consultant Obstetrician &
Gynaecologist; Senior Lecturer, University College Cork)
• Fetal anomaly ultrasound is offered:
> universally to all women in 7/19 (37%) units
> selectively to some women in 7/19 (37%) units
> not offered at all in the remaining 5/19 (26%)
units
5. • Universal first trimester ultrasound,
performed in a dedicated ultrasound
department by a suitably qualified
sonographer, is offered to 47% of women
nationally
7. • Universal first trimester ultrasound,
performed in a dedicated ultrasound
department by a suitably qualified
sonographer, is offered to 47% of women
nationally
8. • Universal first trimester ultrasound,
performed in a dedicated ultrasound
department by a suitably qualified
sonographer, is offered to 47% of women
nationally
9. National IUGR Guideline
Key Recommendation 1
• A comprehensive medical and obstetric history
should be taken from every patient booking for
antenatal care, ideally prior to 14 weeks
gestation, to assess risk factors for fetal growth
restriction (FGR). In addition, assignment of
estimated date of delivery (EDD) should occur at
this visit based on menstrual history or, more
appropriately, on dating ultrasound
10. Key Recommendation 6
• Every woman should undergo a comprehensive
evaluation of the fetal anatomy (by a
sonographer or clinician who is experienced in
ultrasound) between 20 and 22 weeks gestation
to rule out structural abnormalities and to assess
for soft markers as a sign of chromosomal
abnormalities. Referral to a fetal medicine
specialist should occur as per local protocol
11. National Multiple Pregnancy Guideline
Key Recommendation 1
• Where multiple gestation is identified on
ultrasound examination, chorionicity should
be assigned at the earliest opportunity. This is
best achieved before 14 weeks gestation
12. Ireland 2016
• “Psychologically, the late diagnosis made it impossible to
process or prepare for what lay ahead”
• “We feel it’s a major part of having a late diagnosis, that the
heartbreak and pain is made so much harder by the
constraint of time. At that late stage it forces you to deal
with the shock and grief in a way that you may not normally
do”
• “We had to take in the diagnosis, the fatal outcome,
breaking the news to everyone we know, becoming parents,
a sick child, the death of a child and a funeral and go home
and close the door on an empty nursery”
13. • “Nobody is capable of processing all that in four weeks,
and it is this that I struggle to deal with to this day”
• “Heartbreak made worse by the shortness of time”
• “No inkling of fate that awaited”
• “If we had had a 20-week scan, we would have had
more time to come to terms with it”
14. February 2017
• 36% of women did not get foetal anomaly scan
• Professor of Obstetrics at UCC and Consultant
Obstetrician at Cork University Maternity Hospital
Louise Kenny said we are providing "inadequate
care" to mothers and babies, "which impacts upon
clinical outcomes, sometimes with devastating
consequences.“
(Oireachtas Health Committee)
15. • Usually performed between 19-22 weeks' gestation,
the main purpose of the fetal anomaly scan is to screen
for structural foetal abnormalities to facilitate prenatal
diagnosis of a wide-range of conditions.
• Professor Kenny said: "Without nationwide access to
anomaly scans, we continue to provide inadequate or
inappropriate care to mothers and babies, which
impacts upon clinical outcomes, sometimes with
devastating consequences."
• She cited the example of babies with undiagnosed
structural anomalies such as cardiac defects being born
outside centres of paediatric surgery and will require
emergency ex-utero transfer to Dublin immediately
after birth
16. • "For some babies, this will significantly decrease their
chance of survival. In other cases, an absence of
ultrasound means that the opportunity of in utero
foetal therapy will be missed and babies will die of
potentially treatable conditions."
• She added: "A lack of ultrasound also has detrimental
effects on maternal health. Women will continue to
have unnecessary caesarean sections and other
interventions for infants who cannot survive.”
• "Families will continue to be deprived of prenatal
palliative care, to enable them to prepare for their
baby's death. Obstetricians will continue to deal with
unexpectedly bad outcomes at sometimes extremely
complicated deliveries
17. • "We are expected to explain to parents how a
major anomaly, normally clearly visible on
routine ultrasound, was not diagnosed and to
assist parents in dealing with the aftermath of
a traumatic delivery and either unexpected
bereavement or unanticipated illness or
disability."
18. International Guidelines
• Gestational Age
• Equipment
• Images and Measurements
• Documentation / Report
• When to repeat scan
• Sonographer/Clinician qualifications
• Audit /QA
31. • Each practice should develop a protocol on
the procedure to be followed when an
abnormality is detected. This protocol should
include guidelines for the immediate care of
the patient and how the referring doctor will
be informed
32. ISUOG (18-22 weeks)
Qualifications will vary country to country. For
optimal scans:
• trained in the use of diagnostic ultrasongraphy
and related safety issues
• regularly perform fetal ultrasound scans
• participate in continuing educational activities
• have established appropriate referral patterns for
suspicious or abnormal findings
• routinely undertake quality assurance and control
measures
37. Issues
• Range of gestations and views
• First trimester Screening
• Scans performed in private clinics by staff not
qualified to a high level / Patients opting for
3D scans
39. References
• AIUM (2013). AIUM Practice Parameter for the
Performance of Obstetric Ultrasound
Examinations.
• ASUM (2014). Guidelines for The Mid-Trimester
Obstetric Scan (D2).
• HSE/Institute Obs & Gyn (2014). Clinical Practice
Guideline No 29: Fetal Growth Restriction-
Recognition, Diagnosis and Management.
40. • HSE/Institute Obs & Gyn (2012). Clinical Practice
Guideline No 14: Management of Multiple
Pregnancy. ISUOG (2013).
• ISUOG Practice Guidelines (updated):
sonographic screening of the fetal heart.
Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2013; 41: 348–359.
• NHS (2015). Fetal Anomaly Screening
Programme; www.gov.uk/topic/population-
screening-programmes
• Salomon et al (2010). Practice guidelines for
performance of the routine mid-trimester fetal
ultrasound scan. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol/
www.isuog.org