Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment

Riley's Story: Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia

Approximately 150,000 babies are born in the U.S. each year with a birth defect, also known as a congenital anomaly. Michigan Medicine’s Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center offers comprehensive fetal services, utilizing the latest technological advances in diagnostics, minimally invasive surgeries and open surgeries. Using a collaborative approach that’s centered around the family’s needs, our compassionate group of physicians and nurses provide expertise and continuity of care for a pregnant mother carrying a fetus with a birth defect.

Services for Babies with Congenital Anomalies

Prenatal diagnosis
Prenatal counseling
Maternal-fetal intervention
Pregnancy management

Our first goal is always accurate prenatal diagnosis of birth defects using the latest technological advances.

Although the majority of babies with a birth defect are best managed after delivery, select patients benefit from fetal surgery. We provide in-depth consultation with specialists and anticipatory guidance for families. We also perform the very latest minimally invasive interventions, utilizing a team of specialists dedicated to maternal-fetal medicine.

Our Center builds on a long-standing collaboration between the University of Michigan Von Voigtlander Women's Hospital, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital and established prenatal programs including the Congenital Heart Center’s fetal heart program. Having the children's hospital and our state-of-the-art birth center under one roof allows us to provide care for high-risk pregnant mothers and their unborn babies, and transition care seamlessly after birth to our Level IV newborn intensive care unit (NICU) and world-class pediatric subspecialists.

The Fetal Diagnosis and Treatment Center is supported by cutting-edge basic science, and translational and clinical research focused on understanding fetal anomalies. Our team consists of physicians and nurses from maternal fetal medicine, pediatric and fetal surgery, maternal and pediatric anesthesiology, radiology, and pediatric medical and surgical subspecialties. As a multidisciplinary group we work together to manage high-risk pregnancies, optimize fetal well being, educate and support families and provide hope to the tiniest of patients.