Dr Lou Pistorius completed his MBChB (Pretoria) cum laude in 1986, and obtained the MMed (O&G) and FCOG (SA) at Stellenbosch University in 1993. After a year in the UK he returned to Pretoria to the Kalafong Hospital, where his postgraduate experience in fetal medicine commenced. He moved to Sandton Mediclinic as a gynaecologist with interest in fetal diagnosis and therapy in 1998, where he started the first fetoscopic laser procedures for twin-twin transfusion syndrome in South Africa. From 2004 to 2013 he has been attached to the University Medical Centre, Utrecht, The Netherlands, where he completed a fellowship in maternal and fetal medicine, obtained his PhD on fetal brain imaging in 2008, and registered as perinatologist/maternal and fetal medicine specialist.
From 2009 he was the head of the obstetrical ultrasound unit of the University Medical Centre, Utrecht, with the responsibilities of organising and overseeing the performance of obstetrical ultrasound, as well as the training and audit of first, second and third trimester ultrasound. In July 2013 he returned to South Africa to open a maternal and fetal medicine practice in the Mediclinic Panorama and join the Department Obstetrics and Gynaecology of the University of Stellenbosch/Tygerberg Hospital on sessional basis. His current research includes evaluation of fetal cortical folding and brain volume in various pathological conditions (including fetal alcohol syndrome) and the evaluation of prenatal ultrasound markers in prediction of postnatal outcome in fetuses with gastroschisis. He is a founder member of the Perinatal Neurology Working Group, and enjoys wide international scientific collaboration. He has authored or co-authored more than fifty scientific publications and organises or participates in a wide range of ultrasound courses, from primary to tertiary level.
Notable publications:
Pistorius LR, Stoutenbeek P, Groenendaal F, de Vries L, Manten G, Mulder E, et al. Grade and symmetry of normal fetal cortical development: a longitudinal two- and three-dimensional ultrasound study. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2010 Dec;36(6):700-8.
van der Heijden LB, Oudijk MA, Manten W, Ter HH, Pistorius L, Freund MW. Sotalol as first line treatment in fetal tachycardias and neonatal follow-up. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2013 Jan 10.
Country: South Africa
Field: Obstetrics
Specialties: Fetal anomaly screening 1T and 2T; Fetal biometry and wellbeing; fetal anomalies screening; aneuploidy screening; fetal anomalies; fetal heart; fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal doppler; fetal interventional procedure; multiple pregnancy; fetal anomalies; 3D/4D ultrasound; fetal growth
Lanugages: English, Dutch, Afrikaans