Advances in foetal therapy

Abstract 

The past few years have seen rapid advances in the understanding and management of foetal disease. The development of high-resolution and three-dimensional/four-dimensional ultrasound and the ability to analyse foetal DNA in the maternal blood have proved to be exciting innovations. In-utero foetal therapy is, however, still limited by the complications of preterm labour and premature rupture of membranes and the further development of endoscopic procedures is dependent on improvements in the management of these complications. Moreover, application of foetal therapy in clinical practice has been restrained by insufficient evidence to support its efficacy as a treatment.

Keywords: arrhythmia, cardiac defects, diaphragmatic, feto-foetal transfusion, foetal diseases, foetal therapies, hernia, meningomyelocele, pleural effusion, rhesus isoimmunisation, stem cell, thrombocytopenia, ultrasonography