Patient Care

Accessing Services

The RCSI Fetal Centre is staffed with an extensive range of consultants providing all aspects of healthcare for women. Whether the patient’s needs are related to obstetric care or gynaecologic issues, specialist services can be easily accessed by both patients and their general healthcare providers.

Extensive details on a range of obstetric screening and diagnostic tests are available here, together with contact information providing hospital locations and physician contact details which can also be easily accessed. Patients are encouraged to contact the Department’s head office at the RCSI Fetal Centre at the Rotunda Hospital if any additional assistance is needed.

Contact The Centre

Fetal Viability Scans

Patients can be seen quickly for necessary ultrasound examinations to confirm a healthy pregnancy. A Fetal Viability Scan is an ultrasound examination, usually carried out at 7 to 10 weeks, to confirm that the pregnancy is developing normally and to provide reassurance regarding possible miscarriage.

Additionally, this scan will confirm or exclude whether twins are present. It is generally advisable to not have an ultrasound examination prior to 7 weeks as frequently the pregnancy sac may be too small to be visible on ultrasound at such an early gestational age.

Fetal Viability Scans are performed either by the transabdominal or transvaginal route. For a transabdominal scan early in pregnancy it is important to ensure that the bladder is full prior to the appointment.

Scans in Early Pregnancy

Ultrasound and Prenatal Diagnosis

Preconception Consultation.

This involves a meeting with a consultant obstetrician who specialises in maternal-fetal medicine, during which time any concerns that you may have about plans for an upcoming pregnancy can be discussed. €200

Specialist Second opinions.

It is possible to meet with a consultant obstetrician who specialises in maternal-fetal medicine to discuss ongoing medical problems or complications that have developed during pregnancy, such as diabetes in pregnancy, a background history of epilepsy, high blood pressure, or challenges with a multiple gestation. €200

Early Pregnancy Assessment (Viability Scan 7-11 weeks)

Ultrasound scan confirming pregnancy viability and dates. €100

First Trimester Screening (Nuchal Translucency 11- 13.5 weeks)

The FTS test provides parents with an accurate assessment of chances that their baby may be affected by Down syndrome or other chromosomal abnormalities. This FTS test can identify about 90% of cases of Down syndrome. €250

NIPT Fetal DNA test, (Non-invasive prenatal testing) (from 9 weeks or more)

Genetic testing performed from 9 weeks of pregnancy onwards includes blood draw and ultrasound dating scan. This screening is a non-invasive prenatal screening test. It gives you a personalised risk score and tells you if your baby is at high risk or low risk for certain genetic conditions such as Down syndrome, Edwards’s syndrome, PATAU syndrome or Triploidy. This test has a 99.9% detection rate. €430

Chorionic Villus Sampling (definitive invasive testing carried out between 10-14 weeks)

Performed under clinical setting in the Fetal Assessment Unit at the Rotunda Hospital €250 (rapid result within 72 hours €500)

Amniocentesis (definitive invasive testing carried out between 15 weeks onwards)

Performed under clinical setting in the Fetal Assessment Unit at the Rotunda Hospital €250 (rapid result within 72 hours €500)

Fetal Anomaly Scan (Detailed anatomy scan 19-24 weeks)

This is a detailed head to toe ultrasound examination of the fetal anatomy. The baby’s brain, face, spine, heart, stomach, kidney’s, bladder, limbs are carefully examined to provide reassurance regarding fetal health. €200

Fetal Echocardiography

Fetal echocardiography is a special ultrasound scan in which the fetal heart is examined in additional detail at 20 to 24 weeks gestation. This test is for patients who may be at increased risk for fetal heart defects.

Patients who might benefit from this special scan include mothers who have previously had a baby with a heart abnormality, mothers with diabetes, or who have had an earlier test which has suggested an increased risk of congenital heart disease €250

Fetal Well Being Scan

€160

Cervical Length Assessment

€100

Scans in Early Pregnancy

Why First Trimester Screening?

The first two months of pregnancy can be very concerning for many women as symptoms such as vaginal bleeding and abdominal cramping are quite common. This leads to concerns about whether the pregnancy is developing normally or might result in a miscarriage or even an ectopic pregnancy.

Since it can often be difficult to access hospital services in a timely manner to obtain ultrasound scans to confirm normal pregnancy, the RCSI Fetal Centre can provide whatever advice and support may be required directly by patients.

NIPT Testing

Fatal Fetal Abnormalities

Normally, all cells in the human body have 46 chromosomes, made up of 23 pairs of chromosomes. 23 chromosomes (one of each pair) are inherited from the father and 23 inherited from the mother. These 23 pairs of chromosomes contain all of the DNA, or building blocks, to determine the health of the baby. If, at the time of conception, one extra chromosome is passed on, the baby will have a trisomy (one extra of a particular chromosome). If that extra chromosome is a number 21 chromosome, the baby will have Trisomy 21, more commonly called Down syndrome.

Fetal Medicine

Chorionic Villus Sampling

CVS is a test which takes a small sample of tissue, the chorionic villi, from your baby’s placenta. The placenta almost always has the same genetic results as the baby. The placenta sample can be tested directly for chromosomal problems, like Down syndrome, or DNA abnormalities, like cystic fibrosis.