Comprehensive Care from an Expert Team of Specialists
At the Cincinnati Children’s Fetal Care Center, our unique three-hospital collaboration enables us to provide the highest level of fetal, maternal, newborn, and pediatric care. Our experts in maternal-fetal medicine, fetal surgery, and neonatology are driven by a shared passion for providing exceptional, comprehensive care for mothers and babies experiencing high-risk pregnancies with complex fetal conditions.
Recognizing the challenges that patients and their families face, including difficult decisions and fears about the future, we prioritize creating a compassionate environment. Our goal is to ease worries and provide comfort and expertise throughout your care journey.
Thorough Evaluation and Diagnosis
To make your evaluation as smooth as possible, our multidisciplinary team can conduct all the necessary initial testing, provide a diagnosis, and create your care plan during one visit to the Fetal Care Center.
Our experts from different areas come together to provide a comprehensive evaluation that goes beyond just medical tests. During your evaluation meeting, we’ll make sure you understand everything about your and your baby's condition before we discuss all of your treatment options. Our team's nondirectional counseling ensures that you will have the information needed to feel confident about your treatment choices.
Prenatal Diagnostic Tools
Our specialists use a variety of cutting-edge tools to assess and diagnose fetal conditions. Most commonly, we use:
- Targeted fetal ultrasound: This noninvasive tool gives doctors detailed images of your baby.
- Fetal echocardiogram: This high-resolution 3D and 4D ultrasound test can diagnose complex heart abnormalities.
- Fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI): This sophisticated tool helps doctors identify structural abnormalities that other tests would miss.
In some cases, additional testing is necessary to assist in the fetal diagnosis. This may include:
- Amniocentesis: A procedure in which a doctor draws a sample of amniotic fluid, which surrounds your baby in the womb. We analyze the sample to look for chromosome abnormalities, structural defects, and signs of metabolic disorders.
- Chorionic Villus Sampling (CVS): An alternative to amniocentesis, CVS is a procedure that can be performed earlier in your pregnancy, allowing more time for you and your doctor to plan for treatment.
- Fetal Blood Sampling: Also known as percutaneous blood sampling, this procedure draws a sample of blood from the baby's umbilical cord. We use the sample to conduct genetic karyotype analysis, which can give us a clearer picture of your baby's condition.
- Fetal Skin/Muscle Biopsy: This minimally invasive procedure takes a biopsy of skin or muscle from your baby in the womb to test for certain skin and muscle diseases.
- Diagnostic Fetoscopy: In this minimally invasive procedure, a doctor inserts a small imaging device called a fetoscope into the uterus and examines your baby for signs of abnormalities or disease.
Personalized Treatment Recommendations
Every pregnancy—every mother, every baby—is different. To meet your specific needs, the Fetal Care Center offers a complete array of treatment options. Our goal is to improve outcomes and enhance the long-term quality of life for our patients.
Minimally Invasive Fetal Interventions
- Fetoscopic surgery
- Selective fetal laser procedures
- Radiofrequency ablation
Other Fetal Interventions
- Cardiac procedures
- Open fetal surgery for rare and life-threatening conditions
- Ex-utero intrapartum treatment (EXIT) procedures
Obstetric Services
Our decades of experience with high-risk pregnancies ensure that you’ll have the care you need as your pregnancy progresses. Our team of maternal-fetal medicine specialists provides comprehensive obstetric services.
Onsite OB Clinic
In many cases, having a high-risk pregnancy means you need more extensive prenatal services that may not be available with your local providers. If our experts determine your baby would benefit from you delivering at Cincinnati Children’s, our on-site OB Clinic may be an option for you. It's designed to give you the care you need—from prenatal counseling to testing to management—in one location.
Antepartum Unit
Our antepartum unit offers seven private rooms for moms with high-risk pregnancies, complex fetal anomalies, or other complex conditions that need special care. Here, we monitor the pregnancy and ensure safe and timely management of prenatal issues to provide the best maternal-fetal outcomes. Patients’ medical, physical, and emotional needs are met on the unit. Moms and their babies receive comprehensive services and any specialty care they may need.
CenteringPregnancy® Program
Our CenteringPregnancy program provides prenatal care and education in a group setting for moms with pregnancies complicated by fetal anomalies. Managed by nurses and child life specialists, sessions address a variety of topics, from breastfeeding and stress management to preparation for an in-patient stay prior to delivery. Moms also share experiences, ask questions, and discuss specific concerns of high-risk pregnancies and fetal anomalies. Partners and family members are encouraged to participate in the program too. This family-centered approach focuses on everyone in the baby’s life.
Special Delivery Unit
We can also care for your needs during and after delivery. If your baby needs advanced medical care or surgery right after birth, you may be able to deliver your child at Cincinnati Children's Fetal Care Center's Special Delivery Unit. It's one of the only birthing centers in the world located inside a pediatric hospital. Our neonatologists and specialists can evaluate your baby and provide needed care without having to transfer your baby away from you to another hospital.
Postnatal and Long-Term Follow-Up Care
Many of our patients continue to need long-term medical care after birth. The Fetal Care Center collaborates with clinics across Cincinnati Children's to ensure you and your child receive the services you need.
Consistently ranked among the top of U.S. News & World Report’s Best Children’s Hospitals (named #1 in the nation in 2023-24 rankings), Cincinnati Children’s has also been named in the top 10 of each ranked pediatric specialty area. Some examples of the strength of our specialty programs and services include:
- Cincinnati Children’s has the only Level IV NICU in Greater Cincinnati and provides world-class neonatology care to infants at all Level III NICUs in the area.
- Cincinnati Children’s Pediatric Urology division is home to the world’s first multidisciplinary center dedicated to optimizing the health and quality of life for children born with Posterior Urethral Valves (PUV). Leveraging several specialties, each patient is proactively followed to optimize overall health, decrease risk of ongoing kidney injury, and promote mental wellness.
- Cincinnati Children’s Heart Institute is home to the Midwest’s first comprehensive Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU). We also provide specialized, lifelong care for children born with heart defects through our accredited Adult Congenital Heart Disease Program.
- A collaborative partnership with our fetal neurologists and fetal neurosurgeons ensures seamless care for babies requiring neurological intervention. This expert team provides comprehensive support, from prenatal diagnosis and treatment planning to skilled surgical intervention before and after birth.
- Cincinnati Children’s Center for Acute Care Nephrology collaborated with Medtronic to launch the first Cardio Renal Pediatric Emergency Machine (CARPEDIEM™) in the United States. The first of its kind continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) machine was designed specifically for newborns with acute kidney injury or fluid overload.
