Fetal Therapy

Covers the latest insights any fetal specialist needs and provides essential knowledge for professionals caring for women with high-risk pregnancies.

Updated by a team of internationally renowned experts, this book gives a thorough overview of fetal pathophysiology and an evidence base for in utero: both medical (non-invasive) and surgical treatments. Many topics are expanded to cover recent advances, including: stem cell transplantation; tissue scaffolding; minimally invasive approaches to 'open fetal surgery'; the etiology, prevention and treatment of preterm birth and PROM; the genetic etiologies of fetal disease; and gene therapy. In addition, there are in-depth discussions as to the role of open fetal myelomeningocele repair and several fetoscopic approaches to therapy. The international editors have added important new chapters on reducing stillbirth and prenatal counselling. This book is an invaluable reference guide to the latest fetal therapy options, and an essential, in-depth study book for maternal-fetal and neonatology specialists.

This authoritative international text on fetal therapy is the first to cover all three classes of fetal therapy in one book: transplacental drug treatment, invasive procedures, and fetal surgery. It emphasises treatments which have become established in clinical practice in this rapidly developing field, as well as reviewing those that have failed to live up to initial expectation, and discusses the likely impact of new therapies on the horizon. The editors head a team of American, European and Australasian authors, all of whom are leading experts in their respective fields. The text is authoritative, evidence based, and balanced, finding the common ground between the opposing camps of 'enthusiasts' and 'therapeutic nihilists'. It will be an essential source of reference for all those involved in the care of the unborn child, and particularly for obstetricians training in fetal medicine.

“Over the last two decades, medical researchers have become more comfortable with the idea that serious attention must be given to ethical issues when the tests of new technologies are being designed. They have come to see that experimental trials must meet certain standards, not only of scientific rigour, but also of moral acceptability.” (Introduction) Presented by an international group of experts, the eight essays included in this volume evaluate the new technologies in fetal care and also wrestle with the new problems, often moral ones, that have accompanied techonological advancement. The opening chapters review state-of-the-art ultrasound imaging and molecular genetics and focus on the new patient—the fetus. From here, the efficacy of fetal therapy, the problem of assessing long-term viability, the ethical issues involved in both clinical practice and medical research, and the legal rights of the new patients and their parents are examined. The final chapter “Are Fetuses Becoming Children?” brings a fresh philosophical perspective to the question of a fetus’s status and rights.

Covers the latest insights in fetal therapy and provides essential knowledge for maternal-fetal and neonatology specialists.

“Over the last two decades, medical researchers have become more comfortable wit the idea that serious attention must be given to ethical issues when the tests of new technologies are being designed. They have come to see that experimental trials must meet certain standards, not only of scientific rigour, but also of moral acceptability.” (Introduction) Presented by an international group of experts, the eight essays included in this volume evaluate the new technologies in fetal care and also wrestle with the new problems, often moral ones, that have accompanied techonological advancement. The opening chapters review state-of-the-art ultrasound imaging and molecular genetics and focus on the new patient—the fetus. From here, the efficacy of fetal therapy, the problem of assessing long-term viability, the ethical issues involved in both clinical practice and medical research, and the legal rights of the new patients and their parents are examined. The final chapter “Are Fetuses Becoming Children?” brings a fresh philosophical perspective to the question of a fetus’s status and rights.

Due to new developments in prenatal testing and therapy the fetus is increasingly visible, examinable and treatable in prenatal care. Accordingly, physicians tend to perceive the fetus as a patient and understand themselves as having certain professional duties towards it. However, it is far from clear what it means to speak of a patient in this connection. This volume explores the usefulness and limitations of the concept of ‘fetal patient’ against the background of the recent seminal developments in prenatal or fetal medicine. It does so from an interdisciplinary and international perspective. Featuring internationally recognized experts in the field, the book discusses the normative implications of the concept of ‘fetal patient’ from a philosophical-theoretical as well as from a legal perspective. This includes its implications for the autonomy of the pregnant woman as well as its consequences for physician-patient-interactions in prenatal medicine.