fetal therapy

Diagnosis and treatment of conditions arising in the unborn child. While some anomalies can be diagnosed before birth, fetal treatments are only appropriate in a few cases – mostly where the development of an organ is affected.

Fetal therapy was first used in 1963 with exchange transfusion for haemolytic disease of the newborn, once a serious problem (see also rhesus factor). Today the use of fetal therapy remains limited. Most treatments involve ‘needling’: introducing fine instruments through the mother's abdominal and uterine walls under ultrasound guidance. Open-womb surgery (hysterotomy) remains controversial because of the risks involved. It is available only in some centres in the USA.