Concern over 3D foetus scan industry

ONE of the country’s top obstetricians has said he has misgivings about the growing 3-D ultrasound industry which has mushroomed in this country in recent years and sees women paying over 150 for a 20-minute DVD of their baby in the womb.

Chairman of the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the Royal College of Surgeons, Mr Fergal Malone, who works at the Rotunda in Dublin, said a number of distraught patients contacted him after they were alerted to potential abnormalities at one of the commercial scanning centres.

“We live in a consumerist society and there is clearly a demand for such services and that’s fine but as long as they are done with quality control.

“I am aware of a number of cases where they were told there was an unusual growth on the baby after the scan. When I examined it, it was just a loop of umbilical cord. Parents can be put through hell unnecessarily,” he said.

“There is a big need for greater quality control in the ‘sonographic entertainment’ industry and I firmly believe that doctors should be present at these scanning outlets to ensure this quality net.”

Obstetricians around the country say dozens of women from outside the capital are travelling to Dublin every week to have the half-hour 3D scans completed. Clinics, often run by trained radiographers or sonographers, are in operation across the city. It’s also understood there are plans to establish a clinic in the Mid-West.

Chatrooms and message boards on all the country’s main websites have threads dedicated to 3-D and 4-D scans, with women gushing about seeing their “baby moving and sucking its thumb, smiling and stretching”.

Such clinics are also hugely popular in Britain and the US.

One chain of commercial clinics in Canada is called Womb With a View. The scans are best taken at 22-30 weeks and Irish women are booking appointments up to three months in advance.

“Ultrasound is the only form of scanning in this country where technical people seem to be acceptable for scan completion and doctors aren’t reviewing scans. It’s not the same in other disciplines.

Why is obstetrics different?” Mr Malone said.

Representatives from the main clinics were unavailable for comment yesterday but their websites do emphasise that such commercial scans should not replace the diagnostic ultrasounds completed by hospital staff.