Photo of Mr Ruwan Wimalasundera

Mr Ruwan Wimalasundera

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GMC/GDC number:

3546538

Professional background

Mr Ruwan Wimalasundera is a senior consultant obstetrician and fetal medicine specialist at UCLH.

He manages all aspects of pregnancy including both low risk and high-risk pregnancies especially older mothers and multiple pregnancies. He believes strongly in giving mothers a positive experience of pregnancy and birth whether it’s a normal delivery or a caesarean.

He is considered one of the UK's leading specialists in the management of multiple pregnancies and in utero fetal surgery with an international referral base. He is also on the senior leadership team at NHS England as a national maternity improvement advisor, where he works with maternity units around England to make the necessary improvements to allow them to achieve national standards.

He trained in medicine at Kings College School of Medicine, London and went on to specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital and St Mary’s Hospital, subsequently completing his PhD thesis in “Pre-Eclampsia” at Imperial College London. He has since completed an MBA in business management at the Ashridge Executive Business School.

He was appointed as a consultant at Queen Charlotte’s & Chelsea Hospital in 2003 after having completed his sub-specialist training in the same unit. He moved to University College London Hospital in 2013.

He has published many studies in peer reviewed journals as well as book chapters and is involved in writing National Guidelines produced by organisations such as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, NICE and MBRRACE.

 

Research interests

  • Multiple pregnancy
  • Twin to twin transfusion syndrome
  • Fetal cardiac anomalies
  • Pre-eclampsia

Publications

1) Wimalasundera RC, Attilakos GA: Management of dichorionic triamniotic pregnancies: Selective fetal reduction to DCDA Twins compared to conservative: Submitted to AJOG November 2020

2) Saccone G, Khalil A, Thilaganathan B, Glinianaia SV, Berghella V, D'Antonio F; MONOMONO; NorSTAMP; STORK research collaboratives. Weight discordance and perinatal mortality in monoamniotic twin pregnancies: analysis of the MONOMONO, NorSTAMP and STORK multiple pregnancy cohorts. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2020 Mar;55(3):332-338.

3) Adalina Sacco, Fred Ushakov, Dominic Thompson, Donald Peebles, Pranav Pandya, Paolo De Coppi, Ruwan Wimalasundera, George Attilakos, Anna Louise David, Jan Deprest. Fetal surgery for open Spina Bifida. The Obstetrician & Gynaecologist. Obstet Gynaecol. 2019 Oct;21(4):271-282. http://onlinetog.org

4) Claire M McCarthy, Alya al-Madhani, Suzanne Smyth, Nóirín E Russell, Ruwan Wimalasundera, Keelin O’Donoghue. A Double Dilemma: Treatment of Stage IV fetal Twin-Twin Transfusion Syndrome in the setting of maternal recurrent venous thromboembolism. A Case Report. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. October 2019 Oct 24;19(1):377

5) Regan F, Lees CC, Jones B, Nicolaides KH, Wimalasundera RC, Mijovic A, on behalf of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Prenatal Management of Pregnancies at Risk of Fetal Neonatal Alloimmune Thrombocytopenia (FNAIT). Scientific Impact Paper No. 61. BJOG. 2019 Sep;126(10):e173-e185

6) MONOMONO Working Group: Inpatient vs outpatient management and timing of delivery of uncomplicated monochorionic monoamniotic twin pregnancy: the MONOMONO study.-Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol. 2019 Feb;53(2):175-183.

7) Peter L, Tella-Amo M, Shakir DI, Attilakos G, Wimalasundera R, Deprest J, Ourselin S, Vercauteren T. Retrieval and registration of long-range overlapping frames for scalable mosaicking of in vivo fetoscopy. Int J Comput Assist Radiol Surg. 2018 May;13(5):713-720.

8) Kilby MD, Bricker L on behalf of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. Management of monochorionic twin pregnancy. BJOG 2016; 124:e1–e45. (Committee Lead Reviewer: Wimalasundera RC)

9) Drought A, Wimalasundera R, Holder S: Ultrasound diagnosis of bilateral cataracts in a fetus with possible cerebro-ocular congential muscular dystrophy during the routine second trimester anomaly scan. Ultrasound. 2015 Aug;23(3):181-5.

10) S.Kumar, RC Wimalasundera, G. Paramasivam: Perinatal- and procedure-related outcomes following radiofrequency ablation in monochorionic pregnancy. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2014 May;210(5):454.e1-6

11) Taylor-Clarke M, Wimalasundera RC, Gardiner H: Ventricular strain changes in monochorionic twins with and without Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 2013 Jun;208(6):462.e1-6

12) Zhang E, Wimalasundera RC: Uterine Torsion in a Twin Pregnancy. Prenatal Diagnosis 2011 Jun;31(6):614-5.

13) Paramasivam G, Wimalasundera R, Wiechec M, Zhang E, Saeed F, Kumar S. Radiofrequency ablation for selective reduction in complex monochorionic pregnancies. BJOG. 2010 Sep;117(10):1294-8.

14) Wimalasundera RC, Thom, SA McG, Regan L, Hughes AD: Impaired recovery of intracellular calcium and force after activation in isolated myometrial and subcutaneous resistance arteries from women with preeclampsia. J Hypertens. 2010 Mar;28(3):568-74

15) O'Donoghue K, Rutherford MA, Engineer N, Wimalasundera RC, Cowan FM, Fisk NM: Transfusional fetal complications after single intrauterine death in monochorionic multiple pregnancy are reduced but not prevented by vascular occlusion. BJOG. 2009 May;116(6):804-12.

16) O’Donoghue K, Barigye O, Pasquini L, Chappell L, Wimalasundera RC, Fisk NM: Interstitial laser therapy for fetal reduction in monochorionic multiple pregnancy: loss rate and association with aplasia cutis congenita. Prenat Diagn 2008;28:535-43

17) Engineer N, O'Donoghue K, Wimalasundera RC, Fisk NM: The effect of polyhydramnios on cervical length in twins: a controlled intervention study in complicated monochorionic pregnancies. PLoS One 2008;3:e3834.

18) Naseem Zaidi, R Wimalasundera: Unexplained Intrauterine Death In The Third Trimester: Poor Predictive Value Of Umbilical Artery Doppler Waveform: The Internet Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics ISSN: 1528-8439

19) Gardiner HM, Belmar C, Pasquini L, Seale A, Thomas MJ, Dennes W, Taylor MJ, Kulinskaya E, Wimalasundera R: Fetal ECG: a novel predictor of atrioventricular block in Anti-Ro positive pregnancies. Heart 2007; 93: 1454-60.

20) Pasquini L, Wimalasundera RC, Fichera A, Barigye O, Chappell L, Fisk NM: High perinatal survival in monoamniotic twins managed by prophylactic sulindac, intensive ultrasound surveillance, and Cesarean delivery at 32 weeks' gestation. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2006;28:681-7.

21) Wimalasundera RC, Thom SA MacG, Regan L, Hughes AD: Effects of vasoactive agents on intracellular calcium and force in myometrial and subcutaneous resistance arteries isolated from preeclamptic, pregnant, and nonpregnant woman. Am J Obstet Gynecol 2005; 192: 625-32.

22) Gardiner HM, Wimalasundera RC, Pasquini L, Wawryk S, Y Ho Y: Images in cardiovascular medicine. Pericardiocentesis at 14 weeks: effective treatment of pericardial effusion complicating right ventricular diverticulum. Circulation 2005; 112: e120.

23) Tan T, Taylor MJO, Wee LY, Vanderheyden T, Wimalasundera RC, Fisk NM: Doppler for artery-artery anastomosis predicts stage independent survival in twin-twin transfusion syndrome. Obstet Gynecol 2004;103: 1174-80.

24) Wee LY, Taylor MJO, Vanderheyden T, Wimalasundera RC, Gardiner HM, Fisk NM: Reversal of twin-twin transfusion syndrome: frequency, vascular anatomy, associated anomalies and outcome. Prenatal Diagn 2004; 24: 104-10.

25) Wimalasundera RC, Fexby S, Regan L, Thom S, Hughes A: Inhibitory effect of tumour necrosis factor-? on endothelium-dependent relaxation in rat mesenteric small arteries involves superoxide. Br J Pharmacol 2003; 138: 1285-94.

26) Sepulveda W, Wimalasundera RC, Taylor MJO, Blunt S, Be C, De la Fuente S: Prenatal ultrasound findings in non-mosaic trisomy-9. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2003;22:479-83.

27) Sepulveda W, Wimalasundera RC:Trisomy 22: case series and review of the literature. Ultrasound Obstet Gynecol 2003 22:1271-56.

28) Wimalasundera RC, Larbalestier N, Smith JH, de Ruiter A,Thom SAMcG, Hughes AD, Poulter N, Regan L, Taylor GP: Pre-eclampsia, antiretroviral therapy, and immune reconstitution. Lancet 2002; 360: 1152-1154.

29) Wimalasundera RC, Regan L, Thom S, Hughes A: The action of the endothelin (EtA) antagonist, BQ-123 on forearm blood flow In young normotensive subjects. Clin Sci 2002 102: 661-6.

30) Wimalasundera RC: Fisk NM: Multiple pregnancy and IVF embryo transfer rates. Lancet 2002; 360: 414.

Chapters in Books:

Gupt R, Moore P, Wimalasundera R: In: Anaesthesia for Uncommon and Emergecny Procedures. Anaesthesic considerations in fetal therapy. Springer -Being edited
Wimalasundera RC: Fetal Medicine. In: Dewhurst’s Textbook of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 8th Ed. DK Edmonds (ed): Oxford: Blackwell Published, February 2012
Wimalasundera RC: Fetal Medicine in practice. In: Dewhurst’s Textbook of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, 7th Ed. DK Edmonds (ed): Oxford: Blackwell Publishing, 2007.
Wimalasundera RC: Selective feticide and multifetal reduction in multiple pregnancies. In: Multiple Pregnancy, M Kilby, D Field, H Critchley, P Baker (eds), pp 95-108 London: RCOG Press, 2006.

Reviews/Editorials:

Wimalasundera RC: Selective reduction and termination of multiple pregnancies. Semin Fetal Neonatal Med. 2010 Dec;15(6):327-35. Epub 2010 Sep 22.
Pasquini L, Wimalasundera RC, Fisk NM: Management of other complications specific to monochorionic twin pregnancies. In: Multiple Pregnancy, L Keith, L Penna (eds). London: Best Pract Res Obstet Gynecol 18, 577-99, 2004.
Wimalasundera RC, Trew G, Fisk NM: Reducing the incidence of twins and triplets. In: Advances in the Management of Subfertility, JG Grudzinskas (ed). London: Best Pract Res Obstet Gynaecol, 17, 309-29, 2003.