The case for screening for vasa previa: time to implement a life‐saving strategy

For the past half-century, obstetric ultrasound has played a pivotal role in improving perinatal outcomes. In middle- and high-income countries, many preventable complications are now screened for routinely during pregnancy, enabling appropriate interventions to be taken to ensure the best outcome. Vasa previa (VP) remains a condition that is not screened for routinely, even though it has been possible to diagnose VP prenatally with ultrasound imaging for 35 years and its diagnosis before birth is highly effective in preventing associated perinatal morbidity and mortality1-10. In this Opinion, we discuss the controversies surrounding, and possible strategies for, screening for VP.