Maternal-fetal medicine

Maternal-Fetal medicine (MFM) is the branch of obstetrics that focuses on the medical and surgical management of high-risk pregnancies. Management includes monitoring and treatment including comprehensive ultrasound, chorionic villus sampling, genetic amniocentesis, and fetal surgery or treatment. Obstetricians who practice maternal-fetal medicine are also known as perinatologists. This is a subspecialty to obstetrics and gynecology mainly used for patients with high-risk pregnancies.^[1]

Maternal-fetal medicine specialists are obstetrician-gynecologists who undergo an additional 2-3 years of specialized training in the assessment and management of high-risk pregnancies. As a result, they are able to take care of pregnant women who have special medical problems (e.g. heart or kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, and thrombophilia), pregnant women who are at risk for pregnancy-related complications (e.g. preterm labor, pre-eclampsia, and twin or triplet pregnancies), and pregnant women with fetuses at risk. Fetuses may be at risk because of chromosomal or congenital abnormalities, maternal disease, infections, genetic diseases, and growth restriction.^[2]

Maternal-fetal medicine specialists have training in obstetric ultrasound, invasive prenatal diagnosis using amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling, and the management of high-risk pregnancies. Some of them are further trained in the field of fetal diagnosis and prenatal therapy where they become competent in advanced procedures such as targeted fetal assessment using ultrasound and Doppler, fetal blood sampling and transfusion, fetoscopy, and open fetal surgery.^[3][4]

The field of maternal-fetal medicine is one of the most rapidly evolving fields in medicine especially in what concerns the fetus. Research is being carried on in the field of fetal gene and stem cell therapy in hope to provide early treatment for genetic disorders,^[5] open fetal surgery for the correction of birth defects like congenital heart disease,^[6] and the prevention of preeclampsia.^[7]

See also

• Advanced Life Support in Obstetrics (ALSO)
• Roberto Caldeyro-Barcia

References

1. ^ About SMFM
2. ^ [1]
3. ^ [2]
4. ^ [3]
5. ^ Abi-Nader Khalil N, Rodeck Charles H, David Anna L. Prenatal Gene Therapy for the Early Treatment of Genetic Disorders. Expert Review of Obstetrics and Gynecology 2009;4(1):25-44
6. ^ Hanley FL. Fetal Cardiac Surgery. Adv Card Surg 1994;5:47-74
7. ^ Costantine MM et.al. Using pravastatin to improve vascular reactivity in a mouse model of preeclampsia. Obstet Gynecol 2010;116:114-20

External links

• St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine
• Ohio State's Maternal Fetal Medicine
• World Congress on Controversies in Obstetrics, Gynecology & Infertility (COGI™)
• British Maternal and Fetal Medicine Society

This human reproduction article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.v · Categories: Human reproduction stubs Obstetrics Health issues in pregnancy Wikimedia Foundation. 2010. Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР? Daejeon de la cuba Blackburn Twin Blackburn Look at other dictionaries: maternal-fetal medicine — a subspecialty of obstetrics concerned with the obstetrical, medical, genetic, and surgical complications of pregnancy and their effects on the mother and fetus. Called also fetology …   Medical dictionary Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine — The Society for Maternal Fetal Medicine (SMFM), located in Washington, DC, is a not for profit organization of over 2,000 members that are dedicated to improving perinatal care. Board (American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology) certified… …   Wikipedia Maternal oral health — has been shown to effect the well being of both the mother and her unborn fetus. Oral health has long been considered an arena of its own, distinct from general health, but there has been a recent push to bring together these two fields. The 2000 …   Wikipedia medicine — 1. A drug. 2. The art of preventing or curing disease; the science concerned with disease in all its relations. 3. The study and treatment of general diseases or those affecting the internal parts of the body, especially those not usually… …   Medical dictionary maternal death rate — maternal mortality rate a rate in which the numerator is the number of maternal deaths ascribed to puerperal causes in one year; the number of live births in that year is often used as the denominator, although to make a true rate the denominator …   Medical dictionary Maternal myasthenia gravis — The presence of myasthenia gravis in a pregnant woman. Myasthenia gravis is an autoimmune neuromuscular disorder characterized by fatigue and exhaustion of muscles. It is caused by a mistaken immune response to the nicotinic acetylcholine… …   Medical dictionary Maternal serum alpha-fetoprotein (MSAFP) — The presence of AFP, a plasma protein normally produced by the fetus, in the mother s blood. MSAFP serves as the basis for some valuable tests. AFP is manufactured principally in the fetus s liver and, also, in the fetal gastrointestinal (GI)… …   Medical dictionary Maternal mortality rate — The number of maternal deaths related to childbearing divided by the number of live births (or by the number of live births + fetal deaths) in that year. The maternal mortality rate in the United States in 1993 (and 1994) was 0.1 per 1,000 live… …   Medical dictionary fetal alcohol syndrome — a condition of newborn babies that results from the toxic effects on the fetus of maternal alcohol abuse. Babies have a low birth weight and growth is retarded; there may be head and facial abnormalities and possibly mental retardation. The… …   Medical dictionary fetal bradycardia — a fetal heart rate of less than 120 beats per minute, generally associated with hypoxia and usually due to placental insufficiency; it may also result from placental transfer of local anesthetics or beta adrenergic blocking agents, or… …   Medical dictionary 18+ © Academic, 2000-2024 Contact us: Technical Support, Advertising Dictionaries export, created on PHP, Joomla, Drupal, WordPress, MODx. Mark and share Search through all dictionaries Translate… Search Internet Share the article and excerpts Direct link … Do a right-click on the link above and select “Copy Link”