Prenatal Care ✅ Flashcards
What does routine prenatal screening include?
- Maternal blood sampling
- US scanning
- Attendance at antenatal clinic
What should maternal blood be tested for prenatally?
- Blood group
- Antibodies for rhesus (D) and other red cell incompatibilities
- Hepatitis B
- Syphilis
- Rubella
- HIV
- Haemaglobin electrophoresis
Why should haemoglobin electrophoresis be done in prenatal checks?
Identify thalassaemia and sickle cell traits
What should be tested for with hepatitis B screening at prenatal checks?
Surface and e-antigen
When are ultrasounds normally done in pregnancy
Late first trimester and mid-trimester
What is the purpose of the initial USS in pregnancy?
- Allows gestational age estimation
- Can identify multiple pregnancy
What is the purpose of the second USS in pregnancy?
- Identify structural abnormalities
- Identify abnormalities in amniotic fluid volume
What can be done if fetal growth or other problems are identified?
Monitoring with serial scans
What does antenatal clinic attendance allow for?
- Identification of pre-existing maternal medical conditions or obstetric risk factors
- Facilitation of monitoring for pregnancy complications
What is the purpose of prenatal screening for disorders affecting mother or fetus?
- Reassurance when disorders not detected
- Optimal obstetric and neonatal management to be planned, and parental counselling provided when problems detected
- Interventions for limited number of conditions with fetal medicine or surgery
- Option of termination of pregnancy to be offered for severe disorders affecting fetus or compromising maternal health
What is the limitation of using screening to as a method of reassurance?
Many abnormalities which are detected on USS are not confirmed on repeat or more expert scanning, or are transient or minor, but may cause significant anxiety
What is required when termination of pregnancy is being considered due to severe disorders affecting the fetus or compromising maternal health?
Accurate, rapid medical advice and counselling to help them make this difficult decision
How can pregnancies at increased risk of genetic disorders be identified?
Prenatal or antenatal screening
When might trisomy 21 first be suspected?
On first trimester USS
How can Down’s syndrome potentially be identified on first trimester USS?
Nuchal translucency measurement
What can nuchal translucency measurement be combined with to determine the likelihood of Down’s syndrome?
Maternal serum biochemical screening
What is non-invasive prenatal testing?
Where cell-free fetal DNA is obtained from maternal blood
What can non-invasive prenatal testing be used for?
- Identification of fetal gender
- Fetal genotyping
- Exclusion of common aneuploidy
Why might it be useful to determine fetal gender by non-invasive prenatal testing?
For X-linked disorders
Why might it be useful to do fetal genotyping by non-invasive prenatal testing?
Look for rhesus antigens
Which common aneuploidy in particular might non-invasive prenatal testing be used to exclude?
Trisomy 21
What is the advantage of non-invasive prenatal testing?
Avoids risk of miscarriage with invasive testing procedures
What is the limitation of non-invasive pre-natal testing?
There are technical, ethical, and financial issues
What does invasive prenatal testing require?
An invasive test in pregnancy with the aim of collecting fetal cells
What can invasive prenatal testing be used for?
- Cytogenic analysis
- Molecular analysis
- Biochemical analysis