Counselling for women during pregnancy is an important part of the obstetrician's tasks. When the patient is a pregnant woman whose fetus is found through ultrasound scanning to suffer from a congenital malformation, counselling becomes even more important. Objective: The objectives of this article are to explore women's perceptions of the ultrasound scanning and their satisfaction with the doctor's advice and investigate the factors affectted to the quality of counseling. Method: The research was conducted in Hanoi Obstetric Hosital, using participant observation and in-depth interviews with women pregnant with an anomalous fetus. Result: The research documents that women are not always satisfied with the counselling provided. Several factors affect the quality of counseling, notably the lack of trained health staff and the overload of work at the hospital. Conclusion: The article concludes that the counselling provided does not live up to women's expectations and that this has to do with the qualifications of health staff and the organization of hospital services. On the basis of the research, some recommendations are proposed in order to improve the quality of counselling, diagnosis and decision-making when a fetal malformation occurs
Congenital Abnormalities, Pregnancy, Counseling

Even though the combined use of ultrasound (US) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is recommended for the surveillance of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the utilization of AFP has its challenges, including accuracy dependent on its cut-off levels, degree of liver necroinflammation, and etiology of liver disease. Though various studies have demonstrated the utility of protein induced by vitamin K absence II (PIVKA-II) in surveillance, treatment monitoring, and predicting recurrence, it is still not recommended as a routine biomarker test. A panel of 17 experts from Asia-Pacific, gathered to discuss and reach a consensus on the clinical usefulness and value of PIVKA-II for the surveillance and treatment monitoring of HCC, based on six predetermined statements. The experts agreed that PIVKA-II was valuable in the detection of HCC in AFP-negative patients, and could potentially benefit detection of early HCC in combination with AFP. PIVKA-II is clinically useful for monitoring curative and intra-arterial locoregional treatments, outcomes, and recurrence, and could potentially predict microvascular invasion risk and facilitate patient selection for liver transplant. However, combining PIVKA-II with US and AFP for HCC surveillance, including small HCC, still requires more evidence, whilst its role in detecting AFP-negative HCC will potentially increase as more patients are treated for hepatitis-related HCC. PIVKA-II in combination with AFP and US has a clinical role in the Asia-Pacific region for surveillance. However, implementation of PIVKA-II in the region will have some challenges, such as requiring standardization of cut-off values, its cost-effectiveness and improving awareness among healthcare providers.