Bringing Advanced Fetal Care Within Reach in Pondicherry

Pondicherry, a small city on India's southeastern coast, is a former French colony now celebrated for its quaint streets, architecture, and culinary delights. Despite its charm, the city lacked advanced fetal medicine care, especially for those in surrounding rural areas. Patients usually traveled to Chennai for care. 

In 2017, Dr. K. Manikandan, MD, DNB, MRCOG, established The Fetal Clinic in Pondicherry, motivated by a desire to address this significant gap in access to care. Having done his postgraduate degree in obstetrics and gynecology at the renowned Jawaharlal Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research (JIPMER) he completed an advanced fetal medicine fellowship in Chennai and returned to Pondicherry to set up his practice. 

A Very Specific Need, Met by Mindray

The Fetal Clinic, one of the few advanced fetal diagnosis centers in the region, attracts patients seeking second opinions or managing high-risk pregnancies. Dr. Manikandan required an ultrasound machine that offered superior image quality, advanced doppler capabilities, and efficient 3D imaging without sacrificing affordability. The Resona I9 met these needs perfectly, impressing him during a week-long trial.

First Trimester Imaging with Ease and Accuracy

As a specialist in fetal medicine, Dr. Manikandan often looks at fetuses very early in the first trimester, where he needs to study the fetal heart, the fetal brain, limbs, and individual systems in great detail. To do this, he turns to the Resona I9’s high frequency probe.  “It brings about the details in the first trimester very much, so I'm able to confidently say if the baby is okay even in the first trimester,” he says. 

Color Doppler in the Resona I9

As someone who frequently uses Color Doppler and Spectral Doppler to study fetal blood flow and fetal heart circulation, Dr. Manikandan notes the significant improvement in day-to-day experience in the Resona I9. “Glazing flow and high-resolution flow are very good [in the Resona I9]. These two are very commonly used in my practice, so I'm very happy.”

3D That Stands Out

One of the other key features, according to Dr. Manikandan, is Smart Scene 3D which simplifies 3D imaging, a significant advancement over previous generation machines. “The moment I place the probe, it automatically detects which part of the fetus we are focusing on, and the presets come automatically. One touch, and it renders everything quickly. I could now connect the mom with the baby in almost every case without any extra time or effort.”

He recalls the case of a patient distressed over a diagnosis of clubfoot in her fetus. Utilizing the Resona’s advanced 3D imaging, Dr. Manikandan revealed the condition was actually congenital posteromedial bowing of the tibia, which had a much better prognosis and potential for auto-correction. By presenting clear, comprehensible images and comparisons, he not only corrected a misdiagnosis but also restored the patient's confidence and peace of mind.

Bringing Healthcare Within Reach

Dr. Manikandan is driven by the ability to provide clear, confident diagnoses, addressing the anxieties and needs of his patients. “They need answers, they need clarity, they need a lot of counseling. When we provide that, I can see the instant and dramatic change in the way they look at the fetus, in the way they grasp things — it's very heartening to get that from the patient,” he says.