Welcome, Dr. Estes!
Georgetown Hospital System is pleased to welcome OB-GYN
physician Xaviera M. Estes, MD, who joinedWinyah Women’s
Center in August. Dr. Estes completed her medical education
at Morehouse School of Medicine and her residency at Mercer
University School of Medicine. Her o ce is located at
N.
Fraser St. in Georgetown. To schedule an appointment with
Dr. Estes, call
- -
.
Nine
months can
seem like an eternity,
especially toward the end
of pregnancy when trying
to sleep comfortably at
night and getting in and
out of a car can pose
logistical challenges.
But inconvenience and
discomfort are a small price to pay for a full-term
baby, and thanks to major developments in
medicine, the number of preterm births in the
United States has dropped dramatically—to about
12 percent of all births, says Ronald J. Long, MD,
a physician with Winyah Women’s Center in
Georgetown.
“ anks to major strides in medicine in the last
50 to 60 years, neonatal and infant mortality have
dropped signi cantly,” Dr. Long says. “ e area
where we’re making more and more impact has
been in preventing births before 37 weeks.”
A full-term pregnancy lasts about 40 weeks.
Preterm birth not only increases health risks for
the baby, but also heightens a mother’s risk for
subsequent preterm births.
Dr. Long says advances in medicine have enabled
physicians to identify patients who are in preterm
labor and, if they present early enough, administer
medications to stop labor or to improve respiratory
function in the newborn.
He says the initial obstetric interview assesses
the risks for the mother and is designed to detect
risk factors that can lead to complications. Dr. Long
says the signi cant risk factor is a prior preterm
birth: “It doubles the risk of another preterm
birth. Other risk factors for preterm birth are
rst-trimester vaginal bleeding; vaginal infections
in pregnancy; cervical surgery, particularly
treatment for dysplasia; and a cervix shorter than
25 millimeters, meaning it may be too weak to
support a full-term pregnancy.”
Treatments include weekly shots of
progesterone—beginning between 16 and
24 weeks and continuing to 37 weeks. A cerclage,
in which the cervix is sewn shut, can also be
performed on a woman with a short cervix.
For women who have not had a prior pregnancy,
the e ectiveness of transvaginal ultrasounds that
screen for cervical length is being evaluated. “ e
results look fairly good, but more studies need to be
done,” Dr. Long says.
To make an appointment with Dr. Long at Winyah
Women’s Center, located at 1306 N. Fraser St. in
Georgetown, call
843-546-3132
.
The importance of
full-term births
Ronald J. Long,
MD
Xaviera M. Estes,
MD
www.
georgetownhospitalsystem.org
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