Good news for future Andalusian moms. As of April in 14 community hospitals a high resolution ultrasound will be performed on all pregnant women around the 20th week of gestation, an extremely important test in the control of pregnancy.
It is a morphological ultrasound that is used to detect congenital malformations and pathology in the fetus. It is an exhaustive test that is performed between the 18th and 22nd week of gestation in which the specialist "dives" thoroughly into the baby's organs to detect possible abnormalities.
It is an essential test of fetal well-being control that no pregnant woman should stop doing, in fact it is the most important of the three ultrasounds that are performed during pregnancy as it helps detect 85% of malformations or injuries.
The objective of the measure, framed within the Genetics Plan of Andalusia, is to reduce the number of amniocentesis, an invasive test that involves risks for the baby. The ultrasound will serve as a filter so that the specialist, if he finds something suspicious, suggests performing an amniocentesis to confirm the diagnosis.
All Andalusian provinces will have at least one center where the test will be conducted.
The 14 latest generation ultrasound scanners are installed in the following hospitals: Puerta del Mar, Jerez and Puerto Real (Cádiz); Reina Sofía (Córdoba); Virgin of the Snows and San Cecilio (Granada); Juan Ramón Jiménez (Huelva); Jaén Hospital Complex; Torrecárdenas (Almería); Virgen del Rocío, Virgen Macarena and Valme (Seville) and Maternal and Child Clinic (Málaga).
