Obstetrics at Barcelona

In Samaranch Gynecological Consultation all the pregnancy-related tests are carried out by the medical staff, who also assist the deliveries (at Clínica Corachán in Barcelona), center that is equipped with the necessary infrastructures for a correct assistance, with highly qualified midwives, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit, Neonatologist on call 24/365, a fully equipped labor rooms and operating rooms, blood bank, adult ICU, etc.

At our center, all the examination rooms are equipped with an 2D ultrasound (2 of them are 3D-4D), and the necessary material for usual gestation controls. In addition, the center has a Cardiotograph for maternal-fetal monitoring and there is a last-generation ultrasound (General Electric E-8-2011) for morphological ultrasounds, color and pulsed Doppler, early amniocentesis punctures and any complex ultrasound examination. If required, the room where the ultrasound is located is equipped with a large plasma screen, so that the patient and her partner can follow at all times the exploration that is being performed by the sonographer.

There are also 3-D and 4-D ultrasound scans, a field in which Dr. Samaranch pioneered in Catalonia and has more than 20 years of experience.

If desired, it is possible to proceed with the preservation of stem cells from the cord blood of the newborn in a private bank, or donate it to the public bank of Barcelona.

Obstetrics
All pregnancy follow-ups, including ultrasounds, punctures and monitoring, are performed in the consultation with the frequency that the pregnant woman requires, trying to make her pregnancy as calm and happy as possible, medicalizing as less as necessary, and if any complication occurs, solve the best possible for both the fetus and the mother, in order to achieve a healthy child with happy parentss.

Mujer Embarazada Que Recibe Ecografia Estomago

Prenatal Diagnosis

This consists of a bunch of tests that evaluate the fetal risk for certain diseases that can be transferred by personal or familiar antecedents, hereditary diseases and the age of the woman.

The objective is to early detect birth defects. Acongenital defect is any anomaly in the morphological, structural, functional or molecular development present at the moment of birth (although it may have late manifestations) internal or external, familial or sporadic, hereditary or not, single or multiple.

In Obstetrics, there are 2 types of techniques to perform the prenatal diagnosis: invasive and non-invasive (both can be performed in our consultation)

– Non-invasive: no risk for the fetus but only evaluates the risk (% of possibility) of fetal diseases secondary to trisomies 21 (Down syndrome also called Mongolism, and trisomy 18 that includes Edwards Syndrome), not being sensitive to all other chromosomal alterations through ultrasound (nuchal translucency) and biochemical analysis (triple screening).

– Invasive: they imply some risk of fetal loss due to accidental injury and this risk varies according to the technique. They have a high percentage of diagnostic certainty (chromosomal disorders derived from the excess or defect of chromosomes or structural alterations thereof, Down syndrome, Patau syndrome, Edwards syndrome, Chat Crit syndrome, Klynefeter syndrome, etc.) and comprises a chorion villus puncture (MVC) and a amniotic fluid puncture (amniocentesis).

Analyzing these aspects, the woman (and her partner) must decide whether or not to justify the prenatal diagnosis.

a/ Triple Screening: It is a test that combines an ultrasound at 12 weeks in which the fetal nuchal fold is measured, the gestational age is confirmed and combined with a maternal analysis, and it will give us a result that indicates the risk of the fetus being affected by Sdr. of Down or Mr. of Edwards.

b/ neoBona and Extendet Panel Prenatal Test, by means of a maternal blood analysis, inform us of the presence of fetal chromosomal alterations in a very reliable way and without any risk to the fetus.

c/ High-definition morphological ultrasound: It is an ultrasound that is performed around 20 weeks of gestation, or by a qualified professional sonographer, who performs an exhaustive analysis of the fetus, checking that there are no detectable morphological or structural alterations in that those of late appearance or those undetectable by ultrasound remain out of detection. Regarding the harmlessness on the fetus of ultrasound, on August 29, 1989 the F.D.A. (Food and Drug Administration) of the USA, publishes the results of a large and exhaustive study, in which it is concluded that the use of ultrasound, including Doppler, provides many more benefits than its risks. No problems attributable to this technique have been detected to date in people who underwent ultrasound scans on their mothers when they were pregnant.

Assessing these aspects, the pregnant woman (and the father) must decide whether or not they wish to perform prenatal diagnostic tests, and which of them