Vasa Previa: Getting diagnosed can save your baby
It’s not often that the causes of stillbirth are preventable, but in the case of Vasa Previa the baby can be saved.
Vasa Previa is a condition one in 5000 women can experience during pregnancy where the blood vessels that connect the baby’s umbilical cord to the mother’s placenta are exposed, or positioned in a way that makes them vulnerable to rupture.
A baby can reach full term with no issues but if the baby ruptures or smothers these vessels during labour, it can die in a matter of minutes.
Women and families who have experienced Vasa Previa have funded and driven a world first national study of the disease in Australia.
What the study proves is that if Vasa Previa is diagnosed antenatally the baby can survive.
Features:
- Assistant Deputy Vice Chancellor Research and Professor of Public Health Elizabeth Sullivan
- Natasha Donnolley, Vice President of the International Vasa Praevia Foundation
