The Fetal Center at Riley Children’s Health provides multidisciplinary evaluation and counseling for expectant mothers due to a high-risk fetal condition. This comprehensive care and support extends from prenatal diagnosis through delivery and postpartum follow-up.
Why Choose Riley Children's
Our Fetal Center care model is based on a partnership between Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Neonatology, in collaboration with highly-skilled and nationally-ranked pediatric specialties to provide comprehensive care for your baby.
The Fetal Center includes a well-established and innovative fetal diagnosis program with advanced radiology services and imaging capabilities to evaluate your baby if suspected to have a birth defect. In addition, we are a member of the North American Fetal Therapy Network (NAFTnet), a group of facilities with expertise in fetal diagnosis and intervention that work together on leading-edge research and treatment. And with a growing fetal surgery program, the Fetal Center is committed to providing the best treatment options.
Together, our team's vast experience allows us to manage a broad range of complex conditions for you and your baby. We offer advanced, coordinated care to support families during this critical time.
What to Expect
What to Expect
Our team's goal is to conduct a complete evaluation of you and your baby soon after a referral is made. Before your appointment, a Fetal Care Coordinator will contact you to:
- Explain your day of testing and evaluation
- Give information about your appointment times and locations
- Answer any questions you have about your day at Riley
- Provide brochures and maps to guide you through the day
At any time, your Fetal Care Coordinator is available to answer questions or address concerns you may have.
Your Visit to the Fetal Center
Your first visit to the Fetal Center will be a day of diagnostic testing and evaluation. Feel free to bring a friend or family member with you for support.
Our evaluation starts with a comprehensive ultrasound performed by our maternal-fetal medicine team. Depending on the suspected diagnosis, you may need advanced fetal imaging, including fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) read by a specialty-trained fetal radiologist and fetal echocardiogram conducted by pediatric cardiologists. Additional specialists will meet with you, depending on your baby's needs.
For your convenience and comfort, you will do all your testing and specialist consultations at Riley at IU Health.
Once the diagnostic tests are completed, the team will meet with you and your family. This team will consist of your maternal-fetal medicine physician, a neonatologist, and other specialists such as fetal interventionalists. They will share your testing results, discuss the diagnosis in detail, explain your baby's long-term outcomes and provide a collaborative plan for your care and baby’s care through the remainder of the pregnancy, delivery and after birth.
Riley Children's Health has a multidisciplinary fetal care conference that regularly brings more than 50 of our specialists from across the hospital to consult and recommend treatment plans for families. This engagement allows your baby's care and plan to be understood and managed with all of your needs in mind – medical, social or financial. You will also receive advice and recommendations from a comprehensive nationally-ranked medical team.
You will receive a packet with information about the diagnosis to take home. Additionally, your Fetal Care Coordinator remains available for questions long after your appointment, including connecting you to additional care team members to have your questions answered.
We understand that sometimes the information can be overwhelming, and we will remain a committed partner throughout. If you would like to speak with families that have received treatment through the Fetal Center at Riley Children's Health, we can help connect you with them.
Conditions & Services
Conditions Treated
The links below provide more specific information about some, but not all, of the conditions we treat.
- Abdominal Wall Defects
- Bladder Exstrophy
- Cerebrovascular Malformation
- Chiari Malformation
- Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH)
- Congenital Heart Disease
- Congenital Pulmonary Anomalies
- Esophageal Atresia
- Gastroschisis in Babies
- Hydrocephalus
- Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS)
- Imperforate Anus
- Intestinal Atresia
- Omphalocele
- Posterior Urethral Valves (PUV)
- Sacrococcygeal Teratoma
- Spina Bifida
- Tracheoesophageal Fistula
- Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome
- Ureteropelvic Junction (UPJ) Obstruction
- Ureterovesical Junction (UVJ) Obstruction
- Ventricular Septal Defects
Services Offered
We offer a number of different Fetal Center services. Below are some, but not all, of the services that we provide.
Doctors and
Locations
Doctors
The Fetal Center team includes but is not limited to fetal and pediatric radiologists, fetal interventionalists, cardiologists, urologists, neurologists and neurosurgeons, genetic counselors, pediatric surgeons, otolaryngologists and more. To contact the Fetal Center, call 317.948.5077. Our core team includes the following providers:
4.8 out of 5 stars
(113 ratings)
Score is an average of all responses to care provider related questions on our nationally-recognized NRC Health Patient Experience Survey.
Learn About SurveyPediatric Surgery
317.944.4681
Locations
Locations
Fetal Center at Riley Children's Health
575 Riley Hospital Dr
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Program Resources
Program Resources
The Fetal Center at Riley has curated relevant resources from other websites and provided links with brief descriptions of the information that is available.
Resources
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Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Check out the Maternal and Infant Health section for robust information from this trusted government resource.
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Read more about common baby and pregnancy concerns as well as high-risk issues from this trusted organization.
Related Departments
Related Departments
Understanding that teamwork, expertise and innovation best support patients, the Fetal Center brings together dozens of subspecialties to collaborate and develop care plans. Our comprehensive care includes but is not limited to the following departments.
Related Stories
Related Stories
Groundbreaking fetal intervention saves baby’s life
Indiana woman’s unborn son required three intra-uterine blood transfusions over several weeks before he was safely delivered at Riley this week.
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Celebrating pregnancy milestones with Fetal Center photo booth
Patients in the Riley Fetal Center spend a lot of time going to appointments due to complications during pregnancy. Courtney Espinosa, a family support coordinator with the NICU Nest team, wanted to help create something for these families to do during their long days in the clinic that would bring some positivity to a stressful experience. So, she set up a pregnancy milestone photo booth in one of the private waiting rooms. Fetal center patients may miss out on things like maternity photos due to preterm deliveries. This new photo area gives them a chance to capture the progression of a pregnancy even between appointments.
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Health Professionals
For Health Professionals
Refer A Patient
The Fetal Center at Riley Children's team works closely with referring doctors of high-risk pregnant women. We make the referral process smooth and keep you informed about your patient’s progress and findings from our center.
Refer A PatientResearch
Many of the neonatology and maternal fetal medicine specialists who see patients in our program are also involved in various research studies through our partnership with the Indiana University School of Medicine, keeping us on the leading edge of what’s coming next in maternal and fetal medicine.