S.A. hospitals participating in stillbirth study

Web Posted: 05/22/2006 05:15 PM CDT

Wendy Rigby
KENS 5 Eyewitness News 

San Antonio is one of five cities launching an important study into a devastating 
health problem — stillbirths. 

Doctors at the University of Texas Health Science Center and the San Antonio 
Metropolitan Health District hope to gather clues to help solve this medical mystery. 

Without warning, the miracle of a new baby can turn into a tragedy of a stillbirth. 
An average of 1 in 200 to 1 in 400 births end with a stillborn baby. 

Dr. Donald Dudley with the University of Texas Health Science Center is part of 
a new study to trying to change these heartbreaking statistics. 

"In San Antonio, currently there are about 125 to 150 stillbirths a year," Dudley 
said. "So, it's relatively a common problem, but one which people really don't 
like to talk about." 

Several factors are known to contribute to fetal death conditions. 

Like diabetes during pregnancy, high blood pressure and birth defects. Still about 
half of all stillbirths are unexplained. 

"We don't always know how much of this is genetically influenced, how much is 
perhaps related to some exposures with the mother 's environment, how much might 
be related perhaps to environmental stress," said Dr. Fernando Guerra, director 
of the Metro Health District. 

Over the next 2-1/2 years, 125 San Antonio women will be recruited for the study. 
Doctors will run sophisticated tests and provide counseling for those who lose 
their babies after 20 weeks, or about halfway through their pregnancy. 

"All of this, obviously, is done in a very caring and compassionate way, and 
always with total regard for maintaining privacy," Guerra said. 

The hope is to find new ways to intervene and save lives. 

"That's the ultimate goal, is to learn as much as we can about the condition in 
hopes that we can prevent it in the future," Dudley said. 

The study is funded by the National Institutes of Health will include 11 San 
Antonio hospitals.