Praenatalpraxis-Essen, focus practice DEGUM II
Praenatalpraxis Essen is a surgery with highly qualified doctors that accompany your pregnancy.
Depending on the respective week of pregnancy, different examinations of your baby in the womb are useful, beginning with the diagnosis of the pregnancy including the calculation of the day of birth.
If the required indicators are diagnosed, most of the examinations are covered by your health insurance. Others have to be paid for privately as individual health service. We are here to advise you on this.
Uncertainty and worries are bad company during a pregnancy!
We are here to help you to find the right advice and make the right decisions for, as well as against, certain examinations. It is our aim to advise you regarding your individual needs, and offer you support throughout.
We offer the complete spectrum of genetic advice, up to and including the undergoing of ultrasound, laboratory and screening examinations during your pregnancy.
So you can choose, for example, additional examinations for the first trimester (the first term of the pregnancy), as provided in the guidelines for maternity, taking your pick between basic ultrasound diagnostics, early organ-screening (ultrasound) including an early heart screening, an extended first trimester screening (nuchal scan with imaging of the nasal cartilage, flow measurement of the Ductus venosus, and measurement of the tricuspid valves in the baby’s heart), with or without examination of biochemical markers (Papp-A, ß-HCG), and, in addition to the ultrasound, NIPT (non-invasive prenatal examinations of acellular DNA, cff-DNA).
In the context of examinations such as these being be carried out, which entail at least a risk to pregnancy, a preeclampsia screening is also conducted. This enables us to calculate the risk of a growth defects to the baby, as well as the risk of pregnancy poisoning, individually for you.
In the second trimester (second and last part of the pregnancy) your baby has grown sufficiently to conduct an extended deformity screening with echocardiography (examination of the heart).
Doppler ultrasound of the baby and the blood circulation and location of the placenta and of the umbilical cord attachment are already provided for, throughout the whole pregnancy if necessary. They can point towards any kind of possible under-supply (IUGR, SGA, LGA, etc. in connection with gestational diabetes, when the baby has an infection and other scenarios), so that we doctors can intervene.
Depending on what indicators are found, we will conduct chorionic villus biopsy, amniocentesis and cordocentesis.
The Essen Prenatal Center cooperates with various prenatal centers. Together with the excellently trained pediatric surgeons, we are able to carry out intrauterine interventions (amniotic fluid drainage, amniotic fluid fillings for diagnostics, shunt insertions, intrauterine transfusions) in the context of abnormalities during pregnancy.
We will establish contact with the hospital for you in case you need advice and support, and if there is need for postnatal (after the birth) surgery.