When Dr. Edmund Yang moved here from Nashville, he had a clear goal: to create a center that provided comprehensive fetal care. “A lot of people do fetal diagnosis, but not everyone does comprehensive therapy,” says Yang, co-director of the newly opened St. Louis Fetal Care Institute and associate professor of surgery at Saint Louis University School of Medicine. The multidisciplinary center, a program of SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center in cooperation with SSM St. Mary’s Health Center, diagnoses and treats fetuses with abnormalities and congenital defects.
Beyond offering detailed ultrasounds and MRIs, the institute provides both open and fetoscopic operations for fetuses with potentially life-threatening medical complications. These surgical procedures employ minimally invasive techniques that dramatically lower the chance of premature birth and speed recovery for mothers. “In truth, I would like to move everything down to a needle-based procedure,” Yang says. “These conditions are rare, but these procedures provide real solutions for babies.”
