Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/CU2WZFt3CZ8 A planned ultrasound at 36 weeks will detect undiagnosed breech presentations in time to allow intervention and prevention of dangerous fetal distress and emergency c-sections.  This recommendation springs from a study by public health specialists at Britain’s University of Cambridge. The investigators screened nearly 3900 women during their first pregnancies with a 36 week ultrasound.  The screening detected a 4.6% incidence of breech presentation more than half of which were unsuspected.  The women were given the choice of attempting to turn the baby, so-called external cephalic version, or a an elective c-section. Those whose babies would not reposition underwent the elective c-section. In the UK, the 36 week ultrasound that costs about 13 pounds or US$17, would prevent about 15,000 undetected breech presentations, more than 4,000 emergency c-sections and 8 baby deaths a year.  The effects are even more dramatic when extrapolated to the US population. If you are pregn