Vasa Previa: Getting diagnosed can save your baby
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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