Safeguarding vulnerable new lives

• Share :  
• 
• 
• 
• 

▲ Cardiology offers fetal echocardiography service for pregnant women by referral. During parental counselling, paediatricians would explain the outlook of the heart problems and treatment plan to facilitate their decision making.

Newborn babies are precious bundles of joy. However, for those facing congenital illnesses or critical conditions, their lives maybe at stake. The Hong Kong Children’s Hospital provides advanced testing, diagnosis and treatment to protect these vulnerable new lives, giving them a chance to thrive.

The Cardiology team at HKCH provides echocardiography assessment for fetuses with suspected heart abnormalities detected during prenatal screening. For indicated cases, medicines can be started right away. Counselling is also offered to parents pertaining to delivery, post-natal management plans and prognosis.

The Department of Radiology conducts brain and spinal MRI for high-risk fetuses to diagnose serious malformations. This facilitates clinical teams to arrange timely operation or intervention once they are born.

▲ The Department of Radiology performs brain and spinal MRI for fetuses still inside their mother's uterus. MRI provides critical information for diagnosis in conditions such as ventriculomegaly and spinal dysraphism, facilitating clinical teams to prepare for early treatment. HKCH is planning to expand the service by receiving case referrals from more hospitals.

The Department of Pathology supports the HA-wide non-invasive prenatal testing and newborn screening programmes. For the latter, four more inborn errors of metabolism have just been added in July, and it has begun to extend to individual private hospitals via pilot.

The following theme stories also highlight our efforts in performing life-saving surgeries for tiny neonates, and setting up Hong Kong’s first breast milk bank to share love and hope.