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Definition of perinatology

by Alivia Nyhan
Published: Last Updated on

The average duration of a single pregnancy revolves around 40 weeks, when the fetus will pass from an embryo to a baby with all its mature organs and entirely ready for birth. During pregnancy, the fetus goes through different stages. The last trimester is one of the most decisive when medical check-ups and concerns about the mother’s health status and the pregnant woman increase.

It is just at this stage where the help of a perinatologist may be required, a professional in the field of obstetrics and gynecology who can attend to various complications in the fetus during this stage. If you wonder what perinatology is, keep reading because, in this FastlyHealarticle, we explain it to you in detail.

Perinatology concept

Perinatology is the branch of obstetrics-gynecology that deals with the study of the anatomy and physiology of the fetus from week 28 of pregnancy, when the fetus has reached 1 kilo of weight, until 7 to 28 days after birth, a time considered the perinatal period.

A perinatologist is an obstetric professional in charge of caring for a pregnant woman who has certain risk factors that can compromise the fetus’s health or her own. This professional is in order of:

  • Diagnose fetal, morphological, or functional malformations of the fetus.
  • Prevent or diagnose early chromosomal problems that could affect the unborn.
  • Treat complications that appear in pregnancy from week 28.
  • Treat fetal malformations in utero that can be treated with medical or surgical treatment.

Depending on the condition of the mother and fetus and whether the pregnancy is considered high risk or not, the intervention of a perinatologist may be necessary to monitor the state of the mother and fetus.

This article is merely informative, at FastlyHeal .com we do not have the power to prescribe medical treatments or make any diagnosis. We invite you to see a doctor in the case of presenting any condition or discomfort.

If you want to read more articles similar to the Definition of perinatology, we recommend that you enter our Medical Dictionary category.

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