antenatal screening

His main research has been in antenatal screening of pregnant women for congenital malformations.

Antenatal screening is not possible.

Case-detection through antenatal screening may have logistic, financial, and manpower impediments to implementation but it remains the favoured strategy.

It is included as part of the triple test & quadruple test for antenatal screening for fetal anomalies.

If antenatal screening was introduced to prevent congenital infection 87-91% of susceptible women born in Britain would require repeated serological testing throughout pregnancy.

The inability of many African countries to sustain large-scale routine screening for gonorrhoea with conventional methods is the main obstacle to antenatal screening for the infection.

"Current antenatal screening cannot identify all babies at risk, and research into how best midwives and doctors can deliver antenatal care to reduce stillbirth is welcomed."

More detailed research is needed to determine the principal sources of infection in Britain, but health education may be an alternative to antenatal screening in reducing maternal infection.

By contrast, the availability of simple, rapid, reliable, and cheap screening tests for syphilis makes this STD amenable to routine antenatal screening.

The finding of anti-Kell antibodies in an antenatal screening blood test (indirect Coombs test) is an indication for early referral to a specialist service for assessment, management and treatment.

They should take high-dose folic acid and be offered antenatal screening (alpha-fetoprotein and second-trimester ultrasound scans), although screening and scans do not find all birth defects.

In the fourth phase of progress, population-based antenatal screening - maternal serum alpha fetoprotein and ultrasound screening, sometimes complemented by amniocentesis - has been proven to have a substantial effect.

Of the three carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen (all positive for antibodies to hepatitis B e antigen) one was a general practitioner's receptionist and two were nurses, one of whom was known through antenatal screening to be a hepatitis B carrier.

Mandatory antenatal screening for syphilis could be the first major antenatal intervention against STDs; full integration of this policy into antenatal care could provide an avenue for research into pertinent questions raised in the recent WHO review and an opportunity to identify women who need evaluation for other STDs.