2023-10-11 11:28:06
Listening to the heartbeat of an embryo between six and twelve weeks old is of utmost gynecological importance for two reasons: “We set the gestational age and determine its viability,” emphasizes Dr. Carmen Sala Salmerón of the Gine-3 Clinic.
The value of the embryonic heartbeat
As an expert in women’s quality of life, she indicates that when this profile of a pregnant woman comes to her consultation for a complete check-up, subsequently decides to continue with the pregnancy or terminate the pregnancy, “it will be her inalienable right to listen to the fetal heartbeat or not” (heartbeat fetal, in Catalan).
“Practically all of them want to hear the fetal heartbeat of their future baby; Some even, without us realizing it, record the sound of the monitor with their mobile phone to send it to their relatives as soon as they leave the consultation,” she highlights.
In this sense, the woman who has already decided to have her baby will also have had a prior consultation with the comadronawhere, among other things, your health status will have been assessed or you will have been informed about different analytical and diagnostic tests, such as screening for congenital anomalies.
“I point out here that many women who ask us for a gynecological appointment when they are only a few weeks pregnant, usually around week six, seven or eight of gestation, usually do not know the exact date on which they became pregnant; They even require knowing the health status of their baby.”
“And don’t think that we can easily establish whether an embryo of approximately five millimeters is alive or not. We will always need to listen to the fetal heartbeat when we are assailed by doubts about its viability,” says Dr. Sala Salmerón.
With abdominal Doppler ultrasound, the fetal heartbeat can be heard from the sixth week of gestation and, in turn, the viability of the pregnancy is determined.
The real heartbeat in pregnancy
During the sixth week of pregnancy, the embryo, implanted in the uterus, develops rapidly… and especially the heart, which begins to beat and pump blood with its only two blood vessels.
The embryonic heart beats quickly, at 150 beats. The heart rate of an adult at rest is set between 60 and 100 beats per minute.
The craniocaudal length (CCL), from the head to the end of the vertebral column, approaches six millimeters. The neural tube begins to close. Inside, lungs and muscle fibers begin to form.
If the fetal heartbeat cannot be heard, the possibility of an anembryonic pregnancy (empty egg) must be ruled out, one of the causes of spontaneous abortion. It is also possible to detect a twin pregnancy.
“I reiterate, I have been practicing as a gynecologist for more than thirty years and, logically, I have received hundreds of women who did not want to continue with their pregnancy, whether or not they heard the fetal heartbeat.”
And do you know what the most terrifying moment is for a gynecologist?
“When a happy couple comes and tells me: Carmen, I’m finally pregnant; My period hasn’t started and I think I’m six weeks along!
So, I’m getting ready to do the ultrasound. The couple enters the examination room and she lies down on the stretcher…
But the ultrasound, which I go through and review, does not detect the embryo’s heart rate… You can only hear the probe sliding across the abdomen, covered in ultrasonic gel.
The woman, alarmed and scared, looks you in the eyes and asks: What’s wrong, Carmen; what’s happening?
“I don’t hear the fetal heartbeat… There is no fetal heartbeat”… And in that moment our hearts freeze.
Therefore, beyond political ideologies and partisan opinions, no Law can replace the decision that a woman freely makes.
She, without any pressure, will hear or not hear the fetal heartbeat; deciding whether or not she continues with the pregnancy… Although I don’t understand this social trend that tries to discard the father’s opinion just because, putting even more pressure on pregnant women.
In any case, it is of utmost importance to facilitate help psicological to women who need it in these tremendously difficult times.
And by the way, the 4D ultrasounds that are performed at 6 or 7 weeks of gestation have nothing to do with the diagnosis of a pregnancy, they only have an artistic and emotional nuance.
Dr. Carmen Sala Salmerón, gynecologist, obstetrician, pelvic floor specialist and expert in women’s quality of life
#heartbeat #embryo