Early Fetal Scan

What is the Early Fetal Scan?

The Early Fetal Scan aims to provide reassurance as early as possible, regarding the health and
development of your baby.

This scan provides an advanced examination of the baby’s anatomy from 10 weeks gestation, providing
a meticulous top-to-toe examination of the fetus, with special attention being given to the brain and heart.

The reason we developed this scan is that many parents would like to get an early reassurance at this
stage. From 10 weeks we can screen for 10 serious structural anomalies, and from 12 weeks we can
screen for many more anomalies, with the focus on congenital heart diseases.

10 weeks into your pregnancy, your baby will be the size of a strawberry and grows around one millimetre
per day. Remarkably, by this stage of pregnancy, the majority of your baby’s organs would already be
formed. Doctors often refer to this stage as the end of the baby’s embryological development. This
means that your baby is now a fetus (and strongly resembles a small human!). From this stage onwards,
the brain is the only main structure that continues developing throughout the pregnancy.

The majority of fetal anomalies occur as a result of disturbances during the very early (embryological)
development and are already starting to show signs at this stage – especially visible from 12 weeks. Our
advanced ultrasound technology and the expertise of our gynecologist and obstetrician has developed
allow us to view the baby’s main structures at an incredibly high resolution and detect those anomalies at
earlier stages of the pregnancy. Among those are: spina bifida, many severe heart defects, absence and
deformities of upper or lower limbs and many other severe anomalies.

Benefits include:

- Early screening for major fetal anomalies
- Clarification of inconclusive first trimester findings, such as increased nuchal translucency (NT) or other
suspicious findings
- Confirmation of pregnancy weeks and estimated gestational age – which is a lot more difficult at later
stages of pregnancy

What anatomical structures do we check on the Early Baby Scan?

The Early Baby Scan examines the brain, face, neck, chest, heart, the great arteries, lungs, diaphragm,
stomach, liver, intestines, abdominal wall, umbilical cord, kidneys, bladder, spine, limbs, hands with
fingers, and feet. We also check the umbilical cord insertion into placenta, umbilical cord vessels, and the
integrity of the amniotic sac.

When the Early Baby Scan can be performed?

The optimal time for an Early Baby Scan is from 12+0 to 13+6 weeks.