[Times photos: Ken Helle]
Posted on 10/29/2003 9:29:39 AM PST by GraniteStateConservative
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[Times photos: Ken Helle]
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| This 3-D image, made Oct. 16, shows Jonathan Whitcomb, a fetus at 27 weeks. Susan Guidi of Advanced Ultrasound Services in Tampa has an $80,000 machine in her office to make the images. She charges $225 per session. |
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| Guidi, left, performs an ultrasound Oct. 16 on Melanie Whitcomb as her husband Robert watches. Parents leave with images on tape and a CD. |
TAMPA - Tiny Jonathan Whitcomb has very little hair, full lips and his daddy's nose.
Some pretty amazing observations, considering Jonathan is a 27-week-old fetus, kicking and turning inside his mother's womb.
Jonathan's parents, Melanie and Robert Whitcomb, got a peek at their soon-to-be-firstborn recently during a three-dimensional sonogram scan at a private office on Davis Islands.
The expectant parents from Largo paid for a relatively new procedure sprouting across the country that gives an almost lifelike look at the fetus at any gestational age.
The sophisticated machinery is drawing aaaawwws from moms and dads who burst with emotion over the plump detail and clear pictures, and scowls from some in the medical field who say that when used without a doctor's supervision, it's entertainment without value.
But the Whitcombs' sonographer, Susan Guidi, one of a handful of 3-D ultrasound operators in the Tampa Bay area, sees it as a chance to connect parents with their babies sooner while also getting a better view of anomalies that traditional 2-D scans sometimes don't pick up.
"It's just . . . phenomenal," Guidi said, eyeing a 3-D collage of yawning and sleeping fetuses pinned on a board in the examination room at her business, Advanced Ultrasound Services. "This is bringing people into the cutting edge of medicine."
Guidi (pronounced Gee-dee), is one of the first in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties to operate a 3-D machine as part of a private business not associated with an obstetrician's office or a hospital.
She admits she has received some backlash from radiologists who feel that 3-D sonograms outside of doctors' hands don't serve a purpose. But she points to clients who have thanked her repeatedly for giving them such a sentimental gift and a couple whose 2-D scan did not pick up their fetus' cleft lip.
"I saw the need for what patients wanted in a sonogram that were not being met," said Guidi, a registered diagnostic medical sonographer who has taught sonography extensively.
Guidi, who received her ultrasound training at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, teaches OB/GYN medical students and residents from the University of South Florida.
At Johns Hopkins, where her studies began in 1979, the technology was so archaic that sonographers could not see fetal movement and fetuses were black dots on white backgrounds.
After her divorce several years ago, she used her settlement to purchase the $80,000 machine.
With no business experience, she opened an office on the fifth floor of the One Davis building on Davis Islands, lugging furniture from her house and scrubbing her own toilets.
Today, Guidi charges $225 per session. Her clients spend an hour with her in a darkened room, the glow from the keyboard and computer screen illuminating their smiles.
They leave with the images on tape and a CD.
The experience was a moving one for the Whitcombs. "He's beautiful," Mrs. Whitcomb whispered to her husband, who gripped her hand tightly in his.
The Whitcombs sought out Guidi's services after they had a traditional ultrasound, which they were not allowed to videotape. (Many facilities have a policy against videotaping to protect them against malpractice suits.) They also left the traditional 2-D ultrasound session with a photograph the sonographer had labeled "boy parts" that didn't resemble, well, boy parts, Robert Whitcomb said.
When he e-mailed the picture to friends and family, they all had the same reaction: "We believe it's a boy because you say so."
The Whitcombs invited Robert Whitcomb's mother, Regina Whitcomb of Clearwater, to watch the procedure. The former OB nurse had never seen a live sonogram performed. In her day, there weren't even pregnancy kits.
A 3-D scan doesn't work as quickly as a traditional 2-D scan, and, if the fetus moves around a lot, a good facial snapshot is hard to get.
In Jonathan's case, he was a fidgeter like his dad. After some prodding, the fetus turned his face just in time for a relatively clear glimpse.
Guidi froze the frame of a 2-D scan, pressed a button on the keyboard that says 3-D, then maneuvered keys to bring the 3-D image into focus. It's called reconstructing and manipulating and has taken her a year to master.
"Look at his fat cheeks!" Guidi said, pointing to the screen. She called the image "exquisite."
Guidi, a striking, petite woman with a strong voice, touches your arm when she speaks. She's passionate about what she does.
Their session lasted a little over an hour. That afternoon, Robert Whitcomb e-mailed pictures of little Jonathan to family and friends.
At 27 weeks, there's still enough room in the womb for fetuses to move around and they've developed enough fat to form baby features, Guidi said.
So how much does the image resemble a baby?
For Dr. Joseph Corcoran and his wife, Patti, it was uncanny.
Corcoran, a Sarasota OB/GYN, and his wife, Patti, spent more than an hour with Guidi, who took dozens of 3-D photographs of their daughter, Caroline.
The best image was a profile, which showed the clear contours of the cheeks and the shape of her eyes. They were Joseph Corcoran's eyes, the same eyes that Patti Corcoran fell in love with.
Caroline Corcoran, now 5 months old, entered the world with her daddy's eyes.
"We were just floored about how much she looked like the picture," said Corcoran. "It's nice to have a little memento, a neat keepsake."
In Pinellas, one physicians' group offers real-time ultrasounds in its offices. For $200, sonographers at Bay Gynecological Associates spend 30 minutes with expectant moms, said Dr. Kimberly Biss, who noted that they don't have to be patients of her practice. They leave with a recording on a tape or CD.
Biss said the office needed a new 2-D machine, but at her urging, they decided to lease the more sophisticated ultrasound machine "just for fun."
While even doctors have sought out Guidi's services, there are critics.
Dr. Steven Greenberg, with Insignia Care for Women, foresees all doctor's offices moving toward the more advanced ultrasounds but frowns at their use when not backed by a physician.
He questioned the protocol for finding abnormalities, and wondered what would happen if there is a mistake in the diagnosis.
Guidi said she calls the woman's doctor to explain what she has found. She will also give the mother the names of well-known doctors who can help with their cases, and if they wish, connect with other women whose children have the same abnormality.
The technology has also become a new factor in questions about abortion, fetal rights and when life begins. Those on both sides of the issue are aware of the new technology.
"It's going to change minds about the things they've been told about being a piece of tissue or blob of tissue," said Robin Hoffman, president of the Florida Right to Life organization in Orlando.
"When you can see that little baby in the womb so clearly, it clearly has to make a difference."
David Seldin, spokesman for NARAL Pro-Choice America, said the technology won't affect the debate. "If it's medically useful, then it certainly is a positive thing," he said. "I don't see any harm in it. There is harm when they're misused."
Antiabortion groups, however, might use it to scare women from having abortions, Seldin said.
Meanwhile, the new technology seems likely to join baby showers and Lamaze classes as another of contemporary America's birth rituals.
Guidi says her callers are about 30 percent men, who want to get the 3-D images as gifts for their wives. Some in the medical establishment may have reservations, but she says she's just taking advantage of new technology.
"Somebody has to break the rules," she said.
- Dong-Phuong Nguyen can be reached at 813 226-3403 or nguyen@sptimes.com
Yep, this is what the anti-life crowd is worried about.
Well, there's always DNA testing if you're really concerned. :=)
Old joke:
A guy knows that his marriage is really in trouble when he moves to another state and finds out that he still has the same milkman.
(Like I said, it's really that old.)
He says that like its a bad thing.
Obviously he's either very misled or totally evil. (I'd vote evil)
Excellent.
Good God, we can't have that now can we?
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