A WORLD renowned fetal medicine expert returned to the Southend Hospital unit which bears his name to celebrate its first year of operation.

Professor Kypros Nicolaides praised the team at the unit which gives specialist help to women who have complications during their pregnancy.

The Kypros Nicolaides Fetal Medicine Unit is run by consultant in fetal medicine, Mandeep Singh who works closely with Professor Nicolaides from Kings College Hospital, London.

The unit allows local mums to receive top class care on their doorstep and lessens the need for stressful trips to London specialists.

Over the last year it has treated 250 expectant mums.

Patients receive specialist scans and their progress can be closely monitored locally but with the expert guidance of the team at Kings.

Professor Nicolaides said: “The unit has three objectives. The first is to raise the standard of ultrasound scanning, secondly to to try to manage the vast majority of patients with problems locally so they don’t have to go to London and the third is to carry out patient research to answer questions on pregnancy complications.

“The unit has completely fulfilled those objectives. It is a beautiful unit. People are very enthusiastic about it and the hospital management has been exceptionally supportive.

“The standard of care at the unit is very high, one of the best in the world. It is the sort of care you would hope to get privately but it is provided free of charge by the NHS.”

The unit has more thank a 90 per cent uptake of patients approached to take part in research trials.

Professor Nicolaides said: “The unit has been extremely effective in research with many patients happy to take part. This makes me very proud to be working in England. We have been looking to see if we can identify the women that are likely to have smaller babies, still births or pre-eclampsia. We have also been looking at using low-dose aspirin to prevent complications. We should have the results by the summer and they will have major implications.”

In the future the team hopes to focus on an increase in multiple births caused by women delaying starting their families and IVF pregnancies as both have a tendency towards this.

Mr Singh regularly visits Kings in order to keep up to speed on the latest developments in fetal medicine and he is clear the unit has been a great advantage to local mothers.

He said: “I work very closely with the professors so anything that needs input from him or the team at Kings is available for local women.”

Echo:

 

ONE family returned to the unit to thank staff for helping to save the life of baby girl who was born with her intestines outside of her body.

Little Annabelle-Rose Thomas was diagnosed with gastroschisis while still in the womb.

Her parents, Kiri Thomas, 27, and husband Nick, 28, were given the devastating news that all was not well with the pregnancy when Mrs Thomas was just 12 weeks pregnant.

Mr Thomas said: “Both Kiri and I were completely shocked, speechless and the emotion we felt is hard to explain. We looked at each other, held each other’s hand and convinced one another that everything would be OK, even though we both immediately thought the defect was severe and we were to prepare ourselves for the worst.

This also followed on from the fact that six months before, Kiri suffered a ruptured ectopic pregnancy for which she required an emergency blood transfusion of four units.”

The couple from Leigh knew their daughter would need immediate surgery at King’s College Hospital in London when she was born. The fetal unit under consultant Mandeep Singh looked after them for the remainder of the pregnancy and prepared them for what lay ahead.

Mrs Thomas underwent weekly scans that alternated between Southend and Kings.

Mr Thomas said: “All the way through it was touch and go. Some scans were fine and some would show a problem. Then after one scan Mr Singh said the baby needed to be delivered within 24 hours.”

The couple were rushed straight to Kings College for a natural delivery of their baby.

Mr Thomas added: “Mr Singh really did demonstrate how much impact going the extra mile can have on a family. We had to deliver Annabelle-Rose at Kings College in London, and although when we were first told of this, we were a little scared, away from family and close friends, Mr Singh and his team ensured we had a full understanding of the process, timelines were clear and communication was concise. Throughout the entire process, he was the person we both felt we could speak to at any time of the day.”

Annabelle-Rose was successfully operated on following her delivery and was able to go home to her adoring little brother, two-and-a-half year old George. She is now seven months old, and thriving with only a tiny mark to show anything was ever wrong.

Mr Thomas added: “Without the unit Annabelle-Rose wouldn’t be here, particularly Mr Singh. He is one of the most amazing people I have ever met. He even came to visit us at Kings to see how we were.

“The care at the fetal medicine centre was absolutely amazing and a number of the team went out of their way to ensure we were OK, Annabelle-Rose was ok and that any questions we had could be answered. The support from the team has been greatly appreciated and as a family, we will be forever grateful.”

“Apart from teething, and waking up at all hours, she is perfectly fine. There is a small abnormality to the belly button area but this can only be identified if you were study it up close.

“The main thing is that the rollercoaster journey we went through during pregnancy can be parked and we can enjoy our healthy, happy, amazing little fighter of a daughter.”

The condition explained:

GASTROSCHISIS astroschisis is a birth defect of the abdominal wall. The baby’s intestines stick outside of the baby’s body, through a hole beside the belly button.

The hole can be small or large and sometimes other organs, such as the stomach and liver, can also stick outside of the baby’s body.

Gastroschisis occurs early during pregnancy when the muscles that make up the baby’s abdominal wall do not form correctly. A hole occurs which allows the intestines and other organs to extend outside of the body.

Because the intestines are not covered in a protective sac and are exposed to the amniotic fluid, the bowel can become irritated, causing it to shorten, twist, or swell.