On June 3, more than 2,000 patients and families returned for CHOP’s Fetal Surgery Family Reunion to celebrate their breakthroughs and how far they’ve come.

Children who undergo surgery for congenital heart disease have lower survival rates by 3 years of age if there are specific problems during fetal development.

The Garbose Family Special Delivery Unit at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has been serving healthy mothers carrying fetuses with known birth defects for 10 years.

Fetal therapy coordinators play a crucial role in coordinating care; they receive referrals, remove all barriers to care, and minimize the wait for a diagnostic evaluation and counseling appointment.

Families referred with a prenatally diagnosed upper limb deformity will be evaluated by our maternal-fetal medicine specialists and experts from our Hand and Arm Disorders Program.

We evaluate hundreds of children from around the world and offer complete care — from evaluation through long-term follow-up — for severe spine and rib cage abnormalities.

For families facing a prenatal diagnosis of clubfoot, our CFDT and orthopaedic experts meet with families to discuss findings, postnatal management, treatment options, and long-term prognosis.

Research published by CHOP confirms the effectiveness of low-dose fetal CT in detecting prenatal osseous abnormalities, which allows increased diagnosis confidence and more precise parental counseling.

As director, Magnusson leads a robust, multidisciplinary team that provides coordinated care and consultative services to patients with spina bifida and spinal cord defects.

With unparalleled level of expertise in prenatal diagnosis of spine deformities, our team is able to more accurately predict a child’s prognosis, explain the long-term impact, and discuss potential treatment options after birth.