FETAL: Why Children's

The Fetal Evaluation and Treatment Alliance (FETAL) is committed to providing exceptional maternal, fetal and neonatal care to families faced with the challenge of a high risk pregnancy. Our mission is two-fold:

• To provide comprehensive care with compassion and respect to families with high-risk pregnancies.

• To be guided by evidence-based approaches, create new knowledge and strive to improve standards of practice through innovation and intellectual curiosity.

Program Highlights

• Our Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialists were the first in North Texas to perform laser treatment for twin-twin transfusion syndrome and are nationally recognized leaders in fetal imaging including 3D and 4D ultrasound as well as fetal MRI.
• Specialized in utero procedures such as fetal transfusion, fetal shunt procedures, radiofrequency ablation, minimally invasive fetoscopic procedures and amnioreduction.
• A multidisciplinary team of MFM and pediatric subspecialists offer the Ex Utero Intrapartum Treatment (EXIT) procedure to manage conditions where neonatal airway compromise is suspected.
• Prenatal diagnostic testing including amniocentesis, CVS, and fetal blood sampling.
• Coordination of care with other subspecialties at UT Southwestern for maternal complications such as congestive heart failure, cystic fibrosis and cancer.
• Collaboration with your referring doctor to develop a comprehensive delivery plan and facilitate continuity in care.
• Comprehensive, multidisciplinary prenatal conferences with Maternal Fetal Medicine, Neonatology and pediatric subspecialists from Children’s Medical Center for patients with diagnoses of fetal anomalies or when a complicated postnatal course is anticipated.
• All of our physicians are faculty at UT Southwestern Medical Center, a highly regarded teaching and research institution, which boasts 5 Nobel laureates, 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences and 18 members of its Institute of Medicine.
• Physicians whose research has led to publications and practice improvements with a direct effect on patient care locally, nationally and across the globe.
• Comprehensive care for infants diagnosed with congenital heart defects is provided by our nationally-recognized Heart Center. Children's is the first hospital in the nation, pediatric or adult, to receive disease-specific certification for fetal heart care.
• A new, 36 bed NICU with state-of-the-art equipment and computer systems opened in July 2009.   Our NICU provides access to a full range of neonatal therapies, including high frequency and jet ventilation, ECMO, nitric oxide and total body cooling as well as 24/7 availability of pediatric subspecialty and radiology support.
• We offer a full range of support services including case managers, child life specialists, financial counselors, social workers and pastoral care. Our team can arrange a meeting with any of these professionals during your consult day.

• We provide support to parents whose infant has a life threatening condition including planning and decision making regarding medical care after birth based on the family’s values and wishes.