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A Healthy Pregnancy How Prenatal Screenings and Ultrasounds Can Help  Dr. Claudel Jean-Pierre OB/GYN Maternal-Fetal Medicine Services and strong. The screenings can rule out genetic disorders. Ultrasounds can help determine how far along in the pregnancy you are, and later, the sex and health of the baby. "Ultrasounds are the most accurate way of measuring gestational age," says Claudel Jean-Pierre, M.D. The Maternal-Fetal Medicine Services at Methodist offers detailed ultrasounds, which can help determine whether more screenings are needed. Screenings for High-Risk Pregnancies While there is some risk with every pregnancy, a high-risk pregnancy can occur if the mother has a chronic health condition, is over age 35 or is pregnant with multiple babies. There are many screenings available at Methodist to help reduce the fear and anxiety in a high-risk pregnancy. "I serve as a consultant and co-manage a high-risk pregnancy with the patient's OB/GYN, to give the best care possible," Dr. Jean-Pierre says. In the past, higher-risk patients have needed an amniocentesis, which is an invasive test that carries the risk of miscarriage. And for patients carrying multiple babies, there was no way to perform tests for a specific risk (such as Down syndrome) for each fetus. According to Dr. Jean-Pierre, "Testing used to occur between 16 and 18 weeks. Now we're doing a lot of this testing earlier, between 11 and 14 weeks, and the accuracy of the tests is much higher. We have accuracy of close to 90 percent for a single pregnancy and close to 100 percent for twins." The screenings are also less invasive. Another advantage of earlier screenings is helping women who are at risk for preterm delivery. These patients may have had multiple miscarriages or previously delivered a preterm baby. "We can do an ultrasound for these patients to measure the cervix or do a test to measure fetal fibronectin," Dr. Jean-Pierre says. "The test has a greater than 90 percent accuracy of ruling out risk of preterm delivery." 
The Methodist DifferenceThe Methodist Hospital is now even more convenient with our on-campus Maternal-Fetal Medicine Services. According to Dr. Jean-Pierre, "Most physicians that perform pregnancy screenings will want you to transfer your care to them. At Methodist, you can still deliver with your own doctor." We offer state-of-the-art ultrasounds and screenings, available to women of all ages and stages of pregnancy.  For more information about prenatal
screenings and ultrasounds, or
to schedule an appointment,
please call 888-285-1463 or visit www.methodistwomenshealth.com. |