East Lancashire doctors work to prevent stillbirths (From Lancashire Telegraph)

East Lancashire doctors work to prevent stillbirths

8:55am Friday 19th June 2009 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
• Comments(3)

RESEARCH by East Lancashire doctors, which could help prevent stillbirths and promote safer pregnancies, is being presented to top childbirth experts.

Specialist obstetrics and gynaecology registrars Alex Heazell, Georgios Theophilou and Shaista Iftikhar, along with consultant obstetrician Elizabeth Martindale, have been at the British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society’s annual conference yesterday and today in Liverpool.

They will present five projects, all geared towards investigating the reasons for stillbirths and the best ways to prevent babies dying in the womb.

The studies look at ways in which placental abnormalities affect unborn babies, care for women with obstetric cholestasis (liver problems during pregnancy), and ways to predict the baby’s health in cases where mothers feel the foetus has stopped moving.

Dr Heazell, who completed a PhD in placental abnormalities last year, and will also present two of his own studies, said: “We have looked at almost 150 cases of stillbirth in Blackburn in the last eight years, and some of the research we will be presenting at the conference has already been published in peer-reviewed journals.

“Showing our work there will help us to gain more funding and research tools to extend our studies.”

“Presenting so many projects is very good for a trust of our size, especially this year because the society is accepting fewer presentations than they have at previous conferences, so the competition has become much tighter.

“About one in every 200 babies born in the North West is stillborn.

"This is only slightly higher than the national average, but we want to be able to do everything we can to try to prevent them.”

The studies being presented are:

• Cross-referencing placenta scan pictures, placenta samples and data on babies to find root causes of stillbirths
• Showing that studying the placenta after a stillbirth can help to reveal the cause of a baby’s death.

• A report of the work done by the obstetrics and gynaecology department in improving care for mothers after stillbirths, and extending investigation of the reasons for their babies’ deaths.

• Mothers who suffer a stillbirth often say they felt less movement from their babies in the days before. Investigating when mothers notice reduced movement can help doctors spot that something is wrong, and deliver the baby while it is still alive.

• A report into the ways in which the trust has treated women with liver problems in pregnancy, and the outcomes for their babies.