Fetal medicine

About

Our fetal medicine service is based at the Centre for Fetal Care (CFC) at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital. It is a specialist referral unit that cares for women whose pregnancies have been complicated by concerns about their fetus, fetal wellbeing, or who have had complications in previous pregnancies.

This includes:

• women with high-risk first trimester screening
• women with fetal abnormalities identified on routine ultrasound scans, for example with the baby's brain, heart, lungs or abdomen, or a cleft palate
• complex multiple pregnancies
• women with babies that aren't growing normally
• women who have had complications in previous pregnancies or a family history of inherited problems

We are recognised for subspecialty training by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the European Board and College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

The Centre for Fetal Care is a specialist centre and one of only a handful of units in the UK performing diagnostic tests such as amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS), as well laser treatment in cases of twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, in-utero blood transfusions for fetal anaemia, and other fetal therapies.

Additional information

Clinical trials and research

We have many research studies that can be accessed via the links below:

• DR CHRISTOPH LEES 
• Precept Study – Maternal cardiovascular function in preeclampsia and/or fetal growth restriction 
• Developing new methods of detecting problems in pregnancy (RAPID study) including non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) 
• Intrapartum ultrasound 

Education and elective placements

For elective placements (medical) please email christoph.lees@nhs.net and (midwifery and nursing) adrine.pinnock-elsayed@nhs.net.

Further online resources

• ARC – Antenatal Results and Choices 
• Multiple Birth Foundation 
• Fetal anomaly screening programme  
• Contact a Family 
• Genetic Alliance 
• Unique – Understanding chromosome disorders
• British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)