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2 - Antenatal care
- By Clare Tower, Clinical Lecture, Maternal and Fetal Health Research Centre, St Mary's Hospital, University of Manchester, Manchester, UK
Alexander Heazell, University of Manchester, John Clift
Book:

Obstetrics for Anaesthetists

Published online:

21 August 2009

Print publication:

06 March 2008, pp 11-21
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Summary

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) produced guidelines for antenatal care provision. The first antenatal visit or 'booking visit' is essential to identifying potential risk factors. Most women in the UK attend for booking in the late first trimester or early second trimester. Those attending in the third trimester are likely to have risk factors placing them in a higher risk category. Blood pressure (BP) should be measured at booking. Pregnant women are offered screening for rubella, syphilis, hepatitis B and HIV. Screening policies for fetal abnormality vary from region to region. The National Screening Committee suggested that women with a risk of 1:250 or more should be offered additional testing in the form of amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling. Serum alphafetoprotein (AFP) testing in the second trimester is offered as a screening test for neural tube defects.