The Foetal Medicine Unit (FMU) is part of the Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University Hospital of Umeå. Situated in the County of Västerbotten in the northern part of Sweden, the University Hospital of Umeå serves 160,000 citizens. Additionally, FMU functions as a second opinion unit for the entire northern region of Sweden, providing the region’s 800,000 inhabitants with qualified second opinion in cases where additional expertise is needed.

There are five midwives employed at FMU whereof three of them are working full-time at FMU and two are dividing their time between FMU and other wards at the Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynaecology. The physicians connected to FMU are all employed at the Clinic and they assist FMU.

All midwives and physicians that are involved in the ultrasound activities are authorised by the “Swedish Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology” and the “Society of Ultrasound in Healthcare”. The Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynaecology performs about 6,500 examinations a year. A third of these are conducted as routine scans in the eighteenth week of pregnancy and the rest are performed due to complications during pregnancy.

FMU has specialised in foetal diagnostics in the early pregnancy stage by amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS). In the near future, the unit also will receive the “FMF Certificate of Competence in the 11-13+6 Weeks Scan”, which is a further guarantee for the competence of the unit’s staff and ensures high standards of performance.

FMU works closely together with the maternal healthcare unit, which is responsible for the ongoing control of the pregnancy, by providing services such as weight estimations and foetal blood flow measuring, when it is suspected that there are weight restrictions on foetuses. To ensure quality in work, FMU continuously monitors the national and international weight estimation and blood flow measuring standards.

FMU cooperates with The Unit for Cardiology in Paediatrics at the University Hospital of Umeå. FMU consults The Unit for Cardiology in Paediatrics in cases where they suspect heart failure in foetuses. FMU also collaborates with the neonatal ward at the Hospital.

In addition, for some years FMU has collaborated and exchanged knowledge and experiences with the University Hospital of Lund and the National Centre of Fetal Medicine (NSFM, Norway) in order to obtain further competence in complicated cases.

Contact information:
Foetal Medicine Unit,
Clinic for Obstetrics and Gynaecology,
University Hospital of Umeå
Umeå
Sweden
Email: enhetenforfostermedicin.smvc@vll.se