Dimensions Healthcare System

Expectant Mothers Get A 3-D View

A mother-to-be donned a pair of futuristic-looking blue goggles and lay down on a hospital bed for a 3-D ultrasound on Monday.

"Oh, cool!" she exclaimed.

As the image of her daughter's forming body appeared through the goggles, she became more excited and pointed out the baby's various body parts.

"That's a common reaction," said Dr. Paul Weinbaum, the newly hired director of the Prince George's Hospital Center's Prenatal Diagnostic Center. Weinbaum and the ultrasound equipment, a digital system from General Electric's Logiq line of medical equipment, are both new arrivals to the hospital. The hospital declined to disclose the cost of the equipment.

"A number of companies have come out with these recently," Weinbaum said, referring to the 3-D imaging equipment. "We're the only hospital in the county who has one." Weinbaum, a native New Yorker, has served on the faculty at three medical schools and was most recently the director of the Anne Arundel Medical Center. While most of his past work has been academic, he is happy at the prospect of work that is more hands-on. He joined the hospital's staff earlier this month.

Jessica Scaggs, a labor and delivery nurse at the hospital who is currently about 26 weeks into her pregnancy, has had traditional ultrasounds in the past and said the 3-D ultrasound experience provides the doctor and patient with more information. "This is much more detailed," Scaggs said.

On Monday, Weinbaum performed an ultrasound for Scaggs using the new equipment. A PC-like monitor and keyboard are connected to a monitor facing the bed. "This way, the patient doesn't have to crane her neck to see the image if we're not using the glasses," Weinbaum said.

Weinbaum said patients have been enthusiastic about the new equipment, which hospital staff describe as "high-tech" and "state of the art," and which Scaggs described as "sci-fi."

"The reaction to the glasses has been very positive," Weinbaum said. "It's more helpful, and it's also more fun."

After examining her baby shifting and breathing in its jelly-like environment, Weinbaum demonstrated other features of the machine. He said the equipment has a feature that shows bodily functions such as blood flow in color superimposed over the black-and-white image of the fetus.

At the click of a few keys on the machine's PC-like keyboard, the baby's heartbeat was visible on a graph on the computer monitor and could be heard as well, all while Scaggs watched her baby's heart pumping through the goggles.

Karen O'Neil, a registered nurse at the hospital, was also impressed with the equipment. "You don't have to come in for your ultrasound with a full bladder like you used to," she said.

Bob Howell, director of marketing and public relations at the hospital, said that while the majority of ultrasounds will be performed using the 3-D equipment, the high volume of patients necessitates that the hospital's former ultrasound be used to supplement the new machine.

But in addition to being more convenient and more fun for the patient, Weinbaum said the improved clarity of the image helps doctors examine the fetus and diagnose any problems with greater accuracy.

"You can see what's going on," he said. "It reduces some risks, and we can determine better whether there are multiple births." Weinbaum said more than 95 percent of pregnant women in the United States have ultrasounds performed while they are pregnant, which he said are important for more than just medical reasons.

"Studies have shown that there's more bonding between the mother and baby when an ultrasound is performed," he said. As Weinbaum scanned the baby from different angles, the bones of the rib cage were distinctly visible. He pointed out the fetus's mouth opening and closing to Scaggs.

As the image on the two monitors changed, Weinbaum used pre-set commands in the machine's computer to label different body parts. After her ultrasound, Weinbaum presented Scaggs with a strip of digital photographs printed out by the machine showing her baby from different angles.

The Prenatal Diagnostic Center, which has been a feature of the hospital for about four years, will be moving from its location on the fourth floor to a location closer to the maternal ward for greater patient convenience.

"We have a bilingual staff in the Prenatal Diagnostic Center," O'Neil said. "We have a high population of Spanish-speaking patients." Another new arrival at the center will be a computer that works with the new 3-D equipment to store and analyze data from the ultrasounds, which Weinbaum said the hospital should receive in about two weeks.

The perinatal diagnostic center can be reached by calling (301) 618- 3542.