News

Dr. Rashed Al Rashed AlHmaid, Chief Operating Officer of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, confirmed that the Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Program in the hospital is one of the pioneering programs regionally, which serves specialized cases to whom therapeutic intervention is difficult to provide in this comprehensive system that is available in the program.

He clarified during his inauguration of the “Fetal Care in Saudi Arabia: Status and Future” Symposium that the program established one decade ago, provides diagnosis and therapeutic interventions for many diseases and congenital defects such as congenital diaphragm, lung congestion defects, chordoma bone cancer, congenital obstruction of the respiratory tract, obstruction of the urethra and twin to twin transfusion syndrome, according to the precise medical evaluation, pointing out that the hospital treated 434 specialized cases in this frame, and diagnosed 2028 cases during the lifetime of the program.

Moreover, Dr. Saud AlShunaify, Pediatric Surgery Consultant and Director of the Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Program at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, stated that the two-day symposium is held with a view to spread knowledge and share experience between specialists in the fetal diagnosis and treatment and transferring cumulative experience possessed by the hospital in this specialization that is one of its kind in the region, which has been in operation since 2008, under the name “Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Program” in order to provide comprehensive care according to the latest medical techniques for the pregnant mother and the fetus through a multidisciplinary medical team. He added that the program deals with the diagnostic and therapeutic intervention of some genetic diseases that may affect the mother and the fetus in the future.

He also pointed out that between 18 weeks and 28 weeks of gestation, fetal intervention is carried out with one of three therapeutic methods, namely, the intervention with ultrasound-guided needle, intervention with endoscopic fetal surgery, and direct surgical intervention to open the womb and perform the operation directly on the fetus. "

“The Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Program is one of the rare highly specialized programs existing in a few centers around the world that were established during the past two decades” Dr. AlShunaify said.

The director of Fetal Diagnosis And Treatment Program in "KFSH&RC" emphasized on the ability and success of the program in the treatment of complex and very dangerous fetal cases and congenital malformations with results comparable to the developed countries medically, stressing on the pursuit of this precise specialization worldwide, which is still in its early stages of development to develop advanced means of treatment and expand the base of fetal diseases that can be remedied through therapeutic intervention, which is performed by the Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Program in KFSH&RC via the well-considered expansion, through the opening of specialized outpatient clinics for this type of medical care, such as fetal diagnosis and treatment clinics, fetal cardiac disease diagnosis and genetic diagnosis clinics, which would increase the number of cases in light of the existence of these clinics and raise awareness of medical centers concerned with the health of pregnant women and their good delivery.