After prenatal diagnosis with complex birth defects, hundreds of babies and mothers received world-class, unique services at the Special Delivery Unit at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
More than 240 babies born in 2009 in the Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit (SDU) at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia are ringing in 2010 with their joyful families. Families from 24 states traveled to Children's Hospital for expert prenatal, delivery and postnatal care for their babies.
"This state-of-the-art, one-of-a-kind Special Delivery Unit provides the most personalized, comprehensive care for these families before, during and after birth," said N. Scott Adzick, M.D., surgeon-in-chief at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and medical director of the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment (CFDT). "These truly remarkable babies were prenatally diagnosed with life-threatening birth defects that required a team of specialists to closely monitor the mother and baby during the course of the pregnancy and a plan for the highly specialized neonatal, surgical or cardiac care needed at birth."
Approximately one in every 33 babies born is diagnosed with a birth defect. However, there is a large spectrum of severity of birth defects and only life-threatening birth defects require the services offered in the Special Delivery Unit at Children's Hospital.
Forty-four percent of the babies born this year in the SDU had congenital heart defects while the remainder had non-cardiac defects such as congenital diaphragmatic hernia, an abdominal wall defect or a tumor on their lungs, backside or neck. These babies are fragile at birth; many have tiny, underdeveloped lungs and require expert care by a team of subspecialists devoted to providing care to newborns with birth defects.
Opened in 2008, the SDU is the world's first comprehensive obstetrical unit within a pediatric hospital for mothers carrying a fetus with a known birth defect. Prenatal and delivery services are contained within the same unit. Patients are cared for by a dedicated team of obstetricians, maternal fetal medicine specialists, pediatric surgeons, fetal cardiologists, neonatologists, radiologists, sonographers, nurse-midwives, nurses and social workers.
Unlike centers where mothers give birth and recover in one hospital while their critically ill newborns are transferred to a specialized pediatric facility, the SDU allows the mother and baby to stay in the same hospital with a multidisciplinary team of experts caring for both the mother and the baby.
Patients are first introduced to the Center for Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment or the Fetal Heart Program during an outpatient evaluation. During the initial evaluation, mothers receive a series of tests in a single day - a high-resolution ultrasound, an ultrafast fetal MRI and an echocardiogram. After the images are evaluated, the team meets with the family to discuss the diagnosis and treatment options and to devise a care plan. If the baby will require immediate critical care upon birth, the family is enrolled in the SDU program.