How Medical Technology is Helping High Risk Pregnant Women

 Medicine  

High-risk pregnancies require specialized care and attention, no matter the location of the mother-to-be. Telemedicine is showing a lot of promise in helping make all pregnancies safer.

High Risk pregnancies, whether caused by pre-existing conditions, age, or complications developed over the course of a pregnancy, can put the lives of both mother and baby at risk. While it's important to eat right, stay healthy, and check in with a doctor, new developments in medical technology can also help to ensure a successful delivery.

What Is Telemedicine?

Telemedicine is the use of electronic communication—whether through email, video messaging or communicating, even text messaging—to deliver advice that may not be easily accessible for certain people. Maternal fetal medicine specialist Dr Gilbert Webb says telemedicine enables specialists to hold consultations in real-time, benefitting expectant mothers who live far from specialty hospitals. This has allowed women living in rural areas during a high-risk pregnancy to stay in communication with their obstetric specialist.

Telemedicine for High-Risk Pregnancies – A South Carolina Practice’s Experience

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At the Medical University of South Carolina, Dr. Scott Sullivan saw a need to reach out to women who were unable to get the prenatal care they needed. As the director of the Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, he created a telemedicine program for women in 2005 initially serving about five to ten women. Today, that number has doubled. In order to take part in the telemedicine program, women must have an initial appointment with a doctor in person to undergo some testing—fortunately, basic tests are accessible in almost any doctor's office. The patient then connects with Dr. Sullivan via webcam, to discuss possible complications and go over results of tests.

What Telemedicine Can Do

Telemedicine can offer invaluable counseling to patients, but it can also help to monitor specific complications during a high-risk pregnancy. If the mother is diabetic, (or suffers from gestational diabetes acquired during her pregnancy) telemedicine can help to monitor blood glucose levels. Telemedicine can also be used to monitor the fetus itself, over the course of the pregnancy. As before, the patient receives routine tests, and the results are sent to a specialist where they are analyzed and explained to the mother monthly. For high-risk pregnancies, getting the correct diagnosis and, if needed, medical care, is invaluable and requires the advice of a qualified doctor. Telemedicine ensures that a pregnant woman has access to the best medical care available, even if she is not living close to a high quality care provider.

Ultrasounds and Fetoscopy

With the rise of remote imaging in medicine, ultrasounds are now possible as a part of telemedicine. Images are sent to doctors, (sometimes, even uploaded and emailed by patients themselves!) who analyze the data and give the results to the patient. For at-risk pregnancies, the diagnosis made or fetal issues caught by a specialist could mean the difference between life and death for a child. Telesonography has caught on in recent years, and is only expanding. Fetoscopy, which is a procedure where an endoscope is inserted into the amniotic cavity and monitor the fetus more closely, has even been successfully performed via telemedicine. Specialists gave advice to medical technicians as they procedure was being performed -- resulting in preventing birth defects that could have been caused by a dangerous delivery, and in some cases, saving the life of the child.

High-risk pregnancies require specialized care and attention, and it is vital that every woman at risk has access to top medical advice—no matter her location, availability, or ability to receive it. Telemedicine can not only help to diagnose conditions, prevent birth complications, and deliver invaluable medical advice to at-risk mothers, it is also changing the face of modern medicine. With so many recent advancements and successful outcomes, the future of telemedicine looks even brighter.

By Emma Sturgis

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Author Bio - Emma is a freelance writer currently living in Boston, MA. She writes most often on education and technology. When not writing, she enjoys watching old movies and indoor rock climbing.