Fetal Abnormality Technology

In the chance that a fetal heart abnormality does occur, it is important to know the technology out there that some hospitals have to find and treat the defect. Education behind heart defects and how it can be obtained gives a better perspective on the complications health care providers are working with. This will assist the parents in asking the right questions and give a better understanding of the procedures and treatments that need to be done to save the newborn. ………

Technology has come a long ways in fetal cardiac surgery. Surgeons and physicians have been working side by side with engineers to make great strides in detecting cardiac abnormalities, performing in-utero surgery, and surgery after birth. It has given babies a fighting chance at living a normal life. Advancing technology has made it easier to identify abnormalities early on while the heart is still in the process of developing. This now gives the surgeons the option to put new instruments, such as a catheter, at work in making minor adjustments. Yet, in-utero fetal cardio surgery is still not completely dependable because it is a complicated process that is still relatively new to health care.

Some parents believe that if their baby has an abnormality, then physicians and surgeons should have the technology to fix their child.

Therefore, when there is not much that can be done, parents blame the facility instead of their own lack of care for their child’s abnormality. Yet, this is a post hoc fallacy because it is not the physician that caused the heart abnormality, but rather the environmental and genetic factors the fetus was exposed to. Physicians make a judgement on the best way to cure or minimize the defect. As there are increasing technology, the world still has a long ways to go to completely trace the defect during early gestation and find a

cure.
The fetal heart typically starts to beat during the 3rd week of gestation. The heart development is usually complete by the 8th week but does not get tested until over twice as long to make sure the heart is fully advanced. However, it can be scanned as early as 12 weeks using a probe (Stauffer, Murphy, 2002, p. 1-7). Ultra-sonograms are general scans of the fetus while a fetal echocardiogram focuses on the heart. A fetal echocardiogram includes some ultra-sonogram images, checks heart flow, and the specifics of the four chambers. After an abnormality is found, repeated checks are done as the fetal heart becomes closer to full size to see if the defect is causing further complications (Stauffer, Murphy, 2002, p. 1-7).