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Letter
Antenatal counselling of spina bifida: we need to do better
  1. Anthony Richard Hart1,
  2. Jenny Smith-Wymant2,
  3. Gill Yaz2
  1. 1 Paediatric Neurology, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield, South Yorkshire, UK
  2. 2 SHINE (Spina Bifida Hydrocephalus Information Networking Equality), Peterborough, UK
  1. Correspondence to Dr Anthony Richard Hart, Paediatric Neurology, Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust, Sheffield S10 5DD, UK; a.r.hart{at}sheffield.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-322762

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    Screening is a routine part of pregnancy care, with ultrasound seen as a social rite of passage and a bonding opportunity,1 2 and many women report they are inadequately prepared for ultrasound finding an abnormality.1 3 After a fetal abnormality has been found, further investigations may be required, such as in-utero MRI, following which prospective parents need high-quality, understandable clinical information to make decisions about the management of their pregnancy.

    Recently, SHINE (Spina Bifida, Hydrocephalus, Information, Network, Equality) published results from their survey of 71 families who had a child with spina bifida (SB) recruited from social media on antenatal counselling (found at www.shinecharity.org.uk/antenatal).4 …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors ARH wrote the letter; GY and JS-W collected and interpreted data, as well as reviewed and edited the letter.

    • Funding The authors have not declared a specific grant for this research from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; internally peer reviewed.