Texas Children’s Fetal Center®
Conditions We Treat
At Texas Children’s Fetal Center, we treat a wide range of fetal conditions, from common birth defects to rare, complex fetal anomalies. And we’re proud to be one of the oldest and most experienced fetal programs, home to leading doctors and specialists in maternal-fetal medicine, fetal and neonatal surgery, and fetal and pediatric cardiology and pulmonology, among others, for exceptional treatment every step of the way.
Our team frequently evaluates and treats:
- Fetal heart conditions, including complex congenital heart defects, in our Fetal Cardiology Program.
- Mild to life-threatening cases of congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) for babies from before birth into adulthood.
- Neural tube defects such as spina bifida. We have completed more than 100 fetoscopic repairs of myelomeningocele, more than any other fetal center in the nation.
- Lower urinary tract obstruction, also known as bladder outlet obstruction
- Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS) at all stages of severity
With proven success, we attract families from around the world seeking the most advanced treatment available for fetal abnormalities. Below you’ll find the full list of conditions we treat.
Conditions We Treat
Abdominal wall defects occur in the abdominal area and include:
- Bladder exstrophy
- Body-stalk anomaly
- Cloacal exstrophy
- Gastroschisis
- Intra-abdominal cysts
- Omphalocele
Blood disorders we treat include:
- Fetal anemia
- Fetal thrombocytopenia (platelet alloimmunization)
- Red cell alloimmunization
Cardiovascular conditions are conditions of the heart and blood vessels and include:
- Aortic stenosis
- Atrial septal defects
- Atrioventricular (AV) canal defects
- Borderline left heart
- Bradyarrhythmia
- Cardiomyopathy
- Coarctation of the aorta
- Congenital heart block
- Congenital heart disease
- Double inlet ventricle
- Double outlet right ventricle
- Ductal constriction
- Ebstein anomaly and tricuspid valve disease
- Ectopia cordis
- Enteric duplicational atresia
- Fetal arrhythmias
- Foramen ovale restriction
- Generalized arterial calcification of infancy (GACI)
- Hemolytic disease of the fetus and newborn (HDFN)
- Hypoplastic left heart syndrome
- Intracardiac tumors
- Mitral valve disease
- Pentalogy of cantrell
- Pericardial effusion
- Pericardial/sacrococcygeal teratoma
- Persistent left superior vena cava
- Premature atrial contraction
- Premature ventricular contraction
- Pulmonary atresia
- Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum
- Pulmonary stenosis
- Tachyarrhythmia
- Tetralogy of Fallot
- Total anomalous pulmonary venous return
- Transposition of great arteries
- Tricuspid valve atresia
- Truncus arteriosus
- Vascular rings
- Ventricular septal defects
Central nervous system conditions affect the brain, spinal cord and nerves and include:
- Agenesis of the corpus callosum
- Anencephaly
- Apert syndrome
- Arachnoid cyst
- Cephalic disorders: Colpocephaly, Iniencephaly and Schizencephaly
- Cerebral calcifications
- Craniosynostosis
- Dandy-Walker malformation
- Encephalocele
- Exencephaly/acrania
- Holoprosencephaly
- Hydranencephaly
- Hydrocephalus
- Intracranial hemorrhage
- Lissencephaly
- Macrocephaly
- Microcephaly
- Myelomeningocele — spina bifida
- Optiz syndrome
- Porencephaly
- Vein of Galen aneurysm
- Cleft lip
- Cleft palate
- Hemifacial Microsomia
- Hypertelorism
- Hypotelorism
- Macroglossia
- Micrognathia and Agnathia
- Microphthalmia/Anophthalmia
- Pierre Robin
Amniotic fluid contains vital nutrients, hormones and infection-fighting antibodies. Disorders of amniotic fluid volume that we treat include:
Disorders that impact a fetus’s growth include:
Conditions of the extremities refer to any condition impacting the arms, hands, fingers, feet and toes and include:
- Amniotic band syndrome
- Arthrogryposis
- Clinodactyly
- Clubfoot
- Congenital limb amputations and anomalies
- Ectrodactyly
- Polydactyly
- Radial aplasia
- Syndactyly
Chromosomes determine how a baby’s body forms and functions as it grows. Fetal chromosome abnormalities we treat include:
- Trisomy 13
- Trisomy 18
- Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome)
- Triploidy
- Other autosomal aneuploidies
- 45, X (Turner syndrome)
- 47, XXY (Klinefelter syndrome)
- 47, XXX (Triple X syndrome, Trisomy X)
- 47, XYY
- Tetrasomy 12p (Pallister-Killian syndrome)
- 22q11.2 Deletion (DiGeorge syndrome)
Conditions of the gastrointestinal tract impact the stomach, intestines and surrounding organs and include:
- Choledochal cyst
- Colonic atresia
- Cystic lesions of the abdomen
- Duodenal atresia and stenosis
- Esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula
- Hirschsprung’s disease
- Imperforate anus
- Intra-abdominal calcifications
- Intra-abdominal calcifications-hepatic
- Jejunoileal atresia and stenosis
- Ovarian Cysts
- Pyloric atresia and stenosis
- Small bowel obstruction
Genitourinary tract conditions affect the bladder, urethra and gender organs and include:
- Ambiguous genitalia
- Bladder exstrophy
- Echogenic kidneys
- Hydronephrosis
- Hydronephrosis: bladder outlet obstruction
- Hydronephrosis: ectopic ureterocele
- Hydronephrosis: minimal
- Hydronephrosis: ureteropelvic junction obstruction
- Lower urinary tract obstruction (LUTO)
- Multicystic dysplastic kidney
- Ovarian cysts
- Persistent cloaca
- Polycystic kidney disease
- Renal agenesis
- Sirenomelia
Hydrops fetalis refers to the accumulation of excess fluid. Types of hydrops fetalis that we treat include:
- Immune hydrops
- Nonimmune hydrops fetalis
Multiple gestation is a pregnancy with more than one baby at a time, such as twins, triplets, and quadruplets. Multiple gestation conditions we treat include:
- Conjoined twins
- Intrauterine death in one twin
- Malformation in twins
- Monoamniotic twins
- Monochorionic twins
- Twin anemia polycythemia sequence (TAPS)
- Twin reversed arterial perfusion sequence (TRAP)
- Twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS)
Conditions of the neck that we treat include:
- Congenital high airway obstruction syndrome (CHAOS)
- Cystic hygroma in early pregnancy
- Cystic hygroma in late pregnancy
- Fetal thyroid diseases
- Giant neck masses
- Goiter
- Lymphangioma
Skeletal disorders of the fetus can be common and include:
- Achondrogenesis
- Achondroplasia
- Campomelic dysplasia
- Chondrodysplasia punctata
- Diastrophic dysplasia
- Ellis-van creveld syndrome
- Fetal skeletal dysplasia/dwarfing conditions
- Hemivertebrae
- Hypophosphatasia
- Jarcho-Levin syndrome
- Osteogenesis imperfecta
- Short-rib polydactyly syndrome
- Skeletal dysplasia
- Thanatophoric dysplasia
Thoracic conditions are conditions that affect the trachea and lungs and include:
- Airway obstructions
- Congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation/lung lesions (CPAM, formerly CCAM), bronchopulmonary sequestration (BPS)
- Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH)
- Congenital high airway obstruction (CHAOS)
- Cystic fibrosis
- Esophageal atresia and tracheoesophageal fistula
- Laryngeal atresia
- Other cystic lesions of the chest
- Pleural effusion (fetal hydrothorax)
- Pulmonary agenesis
- Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum
- Pulmonary vein anomaly
Fetal tumors are masses that can develop from a range of fetal issues. Fetal tumor conditions that we treat include:
- Cervical teratoma
- Chorioangioma
- Liver tumors
- Mesoblastic nephroma
- Mediastinal teratoma
- Neuroblastoma
- Retinoblastoma
- Sacrococcygeal teratoma
- Wilms’ tumor
Conditions of the umbilical cord we treat include:
- Single umbilical artery
- Umbilical cord abnormalities
Texas Children’s Fetal Center
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