General ServicesView some of our most popular services requested and see why we are among the very best.
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| High Risk Obstetrics | Pediatric Cardiovascular Services | Trauma | Neurology | ||||
High Risk Obstetrics |  |
High-Risk Pregnancy
Pregnancy can be a stressful time for any new mom, but especially more so if she or her baby has a health problem that could complicate the baby’s birth. Jackson provides its acclaimed high-risk obstetrical service throughout Miami-Dade County, including at the Women’s Hospital Center.
Whether a woman has diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems or other serious medical conditions, our specialized care strives to ensure the safety of both mom and baby throughout the pregnancy.
The Women’s Hospital Center provides world-class care for moms and their babies. The center specializes in high-risk maternity care, is designated as a Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center and has specialists available 24/7. Our ante-partum unit also cares for pregnant women who are in need of close monitoring and special care before their baby is born.
The labor and delivery unit is also located adjacent to Holtz Children’s Hospital’s neonatal intensive care unit, one of the largest neonatal intensive care units in the country, which cares for the tiniest and most critical newborns with some of the best outcomes in the world.
Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Centers (RPICC)
In affiliation with the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine Department of OB/GYN, Jackson has easily accessible prenatal care offices, several of which are recognized as Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Centers (RPICC). Our clinics are equipped with state-of-the-art ultrasound and laboratory equipment. If necessary, an experienced medical team will provide continued care throughout a woman’s pregnancy.
We also offer another benefit to pregnant women: referrals to University of Miami and Jackson medical specialists, who can provide state-of-the-art care for diabetes, heart conditions and other serious health problems. Our special prenatal care program is making a big difference in the lives of our local and international communities.
Fetal Therapy and other types of high risk pregnancy care
Fetal therapy is a therapeutic intervention used to correct or treat a fetal anomaly or condition. In almost every case where fetal therapy is needed, the fetus’s life is at risk due to the diagnosed condition.
Jackson Health System provides patients with the latest and most advanced resources in the field of prenatal diagnosis and therapy at the Jackson Memorial Hospital Women's Hospital Center. Under the leadership of world-renowned surgeon Dr. Rubén Quintero, and in affiliation with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the Fetal Therapy Center offers minimally invasive techniques that can successfully treat previously untreatable life-threatening conditions diagnosed in utero (while the baby is still in the womb).
Conditions treated at the center include erythroblastosis fetalis, congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), urinary tract obstruction, hydrops fetalis, Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), selective intrauterine growth restriction in monochorionic twins and Acardiac twins (twin reversed-arterial perfusion [TRAP] sequence
Fetal Therapy Center
The Fetal Therapy Center at Jackson Memorial Hospital's Women's Hospital Center, in affiliation with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, offers patients the latest and most advanced resources in the field of prenatal diagnosis and therapy. Under the leadership of world-renowned surgeon Dr. Rubén Quintero, the center offers minimally invasive techniques that can successfully treat previously untreatable life-threatening conditions diagnosed in utero (while the baby is still in the womb).
Fetal therapy can improve the survival rates for babies suffering fatal disorders and can prevent or reduce the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes, enhancing a baby’s overall quality of life. Fetal therapy can also significantly reduce the surgical risks to mothers and babies and the total costs of providing care to babies born with serious disorders and birth defects.
Patients are treated at Jackson Memorial Medical Center, which serves as the primary teaching hospital for the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Referred patients have their prenatal ultrasound evaluation, consultation and surgical procedure at Jackson Memorial's Women's Hospital Center.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is fetal therapy?
Fetal therapy is a therapeutic intervention used to correct or treat a fetal anomaly or condition. In almost every case where fetal therapy is needed, the fetus’s life is at risk due to the diagnosed condition.
Who needs to see a fetal therapy specialist?
The most common conditions for which fetal intervention is considered include:
Erythroblastosis fetalis refers to two potentially disabling or fatal blood disorders in infants: Rh incompatibility disease and ABO incompatibility disease. Either disease can be diagnosed in utero and can cause fetal death in some cases. The disorder is caused by incompatibility between a mother's blood and her unborn baby's blood. Because of the incompatibility, the mother's immune system may launch an immune response against the baby's red blood cells. As a result, the baby's blood cells are destroyed, and the baby may suffer severe anemia (deficiency in red blood cells), brain damage, or death.
Congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH) refers to abnormal development of the baby’s diaphragm and lungs.
Urinary tract obstruction can lead to the abnormal development of a baby’s kidneys and lungs. The urinary tract consists of two kidneys (where urine is made), two ureters (tubes which lead the urine into the bladder), the bladder, and the urethra (the tube which leads the urine from the bladder to the outside of the body). The urine should flow from the kidney, through the ureter, to the bladder, and out of the fetus through the urethra to the amniotic fluid.
There are many causes of urinary tract obstruction in the fetus. Most are caused by a narrowing at some point in the urinary tract. This narrowing can slow down or stop the flow of urine, and this in turn can interfere with the development of both the kidneys and the lungs.
Hydrops fetalis is a condition in the fetus characterized by an accumulation of fluid, or edema, in at least two fetal compartments. The edema is usually seen in the fetal subcutaneous tissue, sometimes leading to spontaneous abortion. It can be a prenatal form of heart failure, in which the heart is unable to satisfy the oxygen demand of the fetus.
Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS) is a condition resulting from the unbalanced flow of blood between two fetuses sharing a common placenta. One twin carries too much blood, while the other carries too little. The condition affects up to 10 percent of identical twins in utero and without surgical intervention both babies could die.
Selective intrauterine growth restriction in monochorionic twins is the disproportionate distribution of placental mass between the twins (unequal sharing of the placenta). This factor may result in poor nourishment of one of the twins, resulting in subsequent poor overall fetal growth. Because this problem typically affects only one of the fetuses, the condition is called selective intrauterine growth restriction (SIUGR). SIUGR is estimated to occur in approximately 10% of monochorionic twin pregnancies.
Acardiac twins, otherwise known as twin reversed-arterial perfusion (TRAP) sequence, is a rare and serious complication of monochorionic (one placenta) twins. Although the cause for the syndrome is not completely understood, it has been hypothesized that large vessels on the surface of the common placenta are responsible. Blood is perfused from one twin (pump twin) to the other twin (acardiac twin) by retrograde (backward) flow. Therefore, the acardiac twin receives deoxygenated (oxygen depleted) arterial blood from the pump twin in the wrong direction therapy is needed, the fetus’s life is at risk due to the diagnosed condition.
Jackson Health System provides patients with the latest and most advanced resources in the field of prenatal diagnosis and therapy at the Jackson Memorial Hospital Women's Hospital Center. Under the leadership of world-renowned surgeon Dr. Rubén Quintero, and in affiliation with the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, the Fetal Therapy Center offers minimally invasive techniques that can successfully treat previously untreatable life-threatening conditions diagnosed in utero (while the baby is still in the womb).
Conditions treated at the center include erythroblastosis fetalis, congenital diaphragmatic hernia (CDH), urinary tract obstruction, hydrops fetalis, Twin-to-Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS), selective intrauterine growth restriction in monochorionic twins and Acardiac twins (twin reversed-arterial perfusion [TRAP] sequence).
Fetal Echocardiography Program
Detecting possible heart defects during pregnancy allows doctors and expecting parents to make special arrangements for a baby’s birth and treatment in the first days of life. It is important that expecting parents have sufficient time to determine the best treatment option for their child.
A fetal echocardiogram is a procedure performed on pregnant women to determine if their unborn child has a congenital heart defect. Simple and complex defects can often be detected between 18 to 20 weeks of pregnancy. Our Echocardiography Laboratory physicians work in conjunction with obstetricians, perinatologists and neonatologists to perform echocardiograms.
Many physicians recommend that babies with heart defects should be born at a medical center that is able to provide comprehensive services for both the mother and baby. Jackson Memorial Hospital is the only hospital in South Florida that is able to provide such specialized and diverse services, including perinatology, obstetrics, neonatology, pediatric cardiology and congenital heart surgery. Mother and child remain in the hospital together while they receive individualized care.
Holtz Children’s Hospital
Transporting Your Child to Holtz
Holtz Children’s Hospital not only cares for children and infants born at Holtz, but also accepts transfers and referrals from other hospitals in Florida, and from other areas of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean via fixed wing or helicopter transport. The transport vehicles are equipped with state-of-the-art critical care unit with crew and equipment capable of providing continuity of care en route for critically ill neonates.
Neonatal Intensive Care
Offering Renowned Care for Critically Ill Infants
Holtz is home to one of the largest neonatal intensive care units in the nation, known world-wide for its success in caring for critically ill infants. The Project: New Born Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) is a designated Regional Perinatal Intensive Care Center by the state of Florida and boasts some of the best survival rates and successful outcomes in the country.
The NICU is staffed 24 hours a day by an experienced medical team — including neonatologists, neonatal nurses, respiratory therapists and pharmacists — specially trained in caring for such small and sick children. This team works with physicians and pediatric surgeons in other specialty areas, as well as with parents and families, to ensure each child receives the best care possible.
Making Miracles Happen at Holtz
The NICU offers a full range of advanced therapies for neonates including all modalities of mechanical ventilation, high frequency ventilation, nitric oxide therapy, whole body hypothermia, ECMO therapy and surgical intervention for complex conditions. Holtz is unique within Miami-Dade County because it is the only birthing hospital where the most complex level of care is available to mothers and their infants. The NICU, adjacent to the labor and delivery unit, offers sick newborns rapid access to necessary treatment and care from specialists from all disciplines at Holtz.
The section of the NICU that cares for the very smallest and sickest babies (NICU-A) was recently renovated to better enable the delivery of state-of-art care while providing a more comforting environment for patients and their families. The new layout and facilities include an expanded nursing station, a dedicated satellite pharmacy that serves just these smallest children, computerized x-ray viewing areas, and a comfortable parent counseling room so parents can meet doctors in privacy while never leaving the unit. The $1.8 million renovation was made possible with generous contributions from the Banyan Society of Project: New Born, the Jackson Memorial Foundation and Bank of America.
Pediatric Intensive Care
Offering High Tech Family-Centered Care
When a child is seriously ill or injured, they require special attention and care. At Holtz Children’s Hospital, the Carnival Cares for Kids Center pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) offers these specialized services for children ranging from newborns to 21 years of age who suffer from a variety of diseases and traumatic injuries.
PICU patients are treated by a medical team comprised of pediatric critical care physicians world renowned for their medical expertise, nurse practitioners, ICU nurses, pediatric pharmacists and pediatric respiratory therapists, who all work together to make sure each child gets the best care possible. The PICU also includes pediatric cardiac intensive care for children suffering from a number of heart conditions or who are recuperating from heart surgery.
The PICU at Holtz not only provides the best medical care for sick children, but also tries to accommodate the needs of their families and loved ones who are caring for them. The PICU has private, comfortable rooms where parents or guardians are welcome to stay with their children and play an active role in their treatment and recovery.
