Mother-Child Intensive Care Center

The Mother-Child Intensive Care Center aims to decrease infant mortality and improve the quality of life by drawing on the expertise of a range of departments including the department of pediatrics, pediatric surgery, pediatric thoracic surgery, pediatric plastic surgery, pediatric urology, laboratory medicine, and radiology, to diagnose congenital anomalies of fetuses before birth, and to provide optimal treatment after birth.

Major areas of treatment

  • High-risk pregnancies: Premature labor, premature rupture of membranes, placenta previa, gestational diabetes, pre-eclampsia, multifetal gestation, etc.
  • Treatment of premature babies
  • Fetal anomalies: Congenital facial malformation, congenital musculoskeletal anomaly, congenital gastrointestinal disorder, congenital urologic disorder, congenital central nervous system disorder, congenital cardiac malformation, etc.

Strengths

Launched in 2012, the Mother-Child Intensive Care Center provides multidisciplinary medical care to address complex congenital malformations, including congenital heart malformations, gastrointestinal disorders, urologic disorders, and cleft lip and palate. Based on this dedicated and interdisciplinary approach, we have managed to increase the survival rate for extremely premature infants (only 23~24 weeks old) to over 80%. Other notable benefits of the Mother-Child Intensive Care Center include the following:

  • A board-certified fetal doctor performs a detailed ultrasonographic examination immediately after preliminary examination.
  • Additional in-depth exams such as amniocentesis, fetal echocardiography, and fetal MRI can be done promptly if necessary.
  • If treatment is necessary after birth, we provide direct consultation with a board-certified expert in the relevant field.
  • We provide prompt, collaborative treatment and exams to minimize the mother’s anxiety and to provide optimal therapy after the baby is born.
  • SMC NICU

Diagnostic exams

  • Obstetric detailed ultrasonographic examination
  • Obstetric amniocentesis
  • Pediatric cardiology – Fetal echocardiogram
  • Radiology – Fetal MRI

1. Latest treatment methods

Surgical results have improved thanks to a better understanding of the pre- and post-operative pathophysiology of diseases.
This has improved preoperative management starting with early diagnosis, intraoperative function of the heart-lung machine, and improved postoperative management.
For most diseases, complete correction is possible when the patient is still an infant, allowing us to avoid multiple palliative surgeries and to decrease complications that can occur before complete correction. For example, the department of pediatric surgery in the Mother-Child Intensive Care Center performs minimally invasive surgery using laparoscopy and thoracoscopy to achieve rapid postoperative recovery and excellent esthetic results. Other diseases can be improved dramatically through fetal therapy, and if the fetal disease improves, no additional treatment may be necessary after birth. Appropriate examination and counseling can prevent unnecessary fetal miscarriages, and lead to the birth of a healthy baby.

2. Recent trends in clinical research

We are currently conducting the world’s first research into cord blood mesenchymal stem cell therapy for the treatment of chronic lung diseases and intraventricular hemorrhages in premature infants. This is also the first time that a clinical study has been conducted on extremely premature infants. Our hospital played a central role in establishing the Korean Neonatal Network (KNN), a program whereby data collected from very low birth weight infants born in Korea is put into a clinical trial registry, making it easier for doctors to organize clinical studies on a national level.