Main description:

With a foreword by John T. Queenan, MD, Professor and Chair Emeritus of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Georgetown University School of Medicine, Washington.

Fetal medicine has emerged as a separate subspecialty over the last 30 years as a result of major advances in a number of areas, in particular ultrasound imaging, cytogenetics, molecular biology and biochemistry. The widespread use of antenatal screening and diagnostic tests has led to an increased need for obstetricians to have knowledge and skills in fetal medicine. This book provides the information that underpins training programmes in fetal medicine and integrates science and clinical disciplines in a practical and useful way.

Contents:

EARLY FETAL DEVELOPMENT

1. Early concepts and terminology
2. Cellular mechanisms and embryonic tissues
3. Staging embryos in development and the embryonic body plan
4. Development of the head
5. Development of the heart

THE PLACENTA

6. The immunology of implantation
7. Development of the placenta and its circulation
8. Placental function and maternofetal exchange
9. Maternofetal trafficking

FETAL PHYSIOLOGY AND PATHOLOGY

10. Development of the cardiovascular system
11. Lung growth and maturation
12. Development of the kidneys and urinary tract
13. Maternal medicines and the fetus
14. The perinatal postmortem

EPIDEMIOLOGY

15. Epidemiological techniques in fetal medicine.

ETHICS

16. Ethical issues in maternal-fetal medicine

PRENATAL SCREENING AND DIAGNOSIS

17. Conveying information about screening
18. Parental reaction to prenatal diagnosis and subsequent bereavement
19. Prenatal screening for open neural tube defects and Down's syndrome
20. Ultrasound screening for fetal abnormalities and aneuploidies in the first and second trimesters
21. Non-invasive screening and diagnosis from maternal blood
22. Invasive diagnostic procedures
23. Cytogenetics
24. Mandelian genetics - the old and the new
25. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis
26. Haemaglobinopathies
27. Prenatal screening for thalassemias
28. Cystic fibrosis
29. Inborn errors of metabolism

DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF FETAL MALFORMATIONS

30. Sonography of the fetal central nervous system
31. The heart
32. Fetal lung lesions
33. Congenital diaphragmatic hernia
34. Abdomen
35. Kidney and urinary tract disorders
36. Fetal skeletal abnormalities
37. Fetal hydrops
38. Fetal tumors

DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF OTHER FETAL CONDITIONS

39. Fetal growth and growth restriction
40. Red cell alloimmunization
41. Fetal platelet disorders
42. Treatable fetal endocrine and metabolic disorders
43. Early pregnancy failure
44. Fetal infections
45. Amniotic fluid
46. Multiple pregnancy
47. In utero stem cell transplantation
48. Fetal gene therapy

THE NEONATE

49. Interface of fetal and neonatal medicine

Self-assessment scenarios
Appendix: Charts of fetal measurements
Index