Advanced prenatal medicine saves young lives

New methods permit endometrial procedures, management of multiple pregnancies, and more accurate diagnosis of fetal ailments

By Iota Myrtsioti - Kathimerini

THESSALONIKI - Ultrasound monitoring of unborn infants and prenatal procedures performed in the uterus have drastically reduced the infant mortality rate, allowed underweight infants to survive and managed multiple pregnancies.

Advanced methods in monitoring and bringing to term pregnancies where either the mother or child is at risk are in use at three university clinics in Thessaloniki, where the machines are on loan from the manufacturers.

Among the new procedures are those that deal with some abnormalities of the urethra, transfusions between twin embryos, and various fetal disorders, said Ioannis Bontis, professor of obstetrics at Thessaloniki University, and Apostolos Athanassiadis, assistant professor of perinatal medicine, to the press in advance of the First Fetal Medicine Congress of Southeastern Europe, which started today in Thessaloniki and runs until tomorrow.

Specialized centers abroad have already performed advanced surgical procedures for certain fetal disorders, though with limited success as yet. These procedures involve opening up the uterus to drain off amniotic fluid so as to make direct contact with the fetus. The amniotic fluid is then substituted with other fluids until it can reproduce. It is not yet known whether the fetus feels pain during such operations, but this is one of the subjects that will be discussed during the congress.

“The basic factor,” said Bontis, “is the mother’s calm psychological state. It has been proved loud noise or music can give unborn infants tachycardia, and that external stimuli can influence their later life.”

Four-dimensional ultrasound — or three-dimensional computer-assisted ultrasound — now ensures more accurate diagnoses, showing the fetus moving, and can monitor the development of the brain, body and weight,

Ultrasound monitoring with the latest equipment has helped reduce perinatal mortality in Greece to 6 per 1,000 births. It has also reduced the number of deaths from multiple pregnancies, which had risen steeply in recent years with the application of medically assisted conception. Now multiple births comprise 2 percent of the total number of births, while the number of triplets has increased by 400 percent and the number of quadruplets by 1,100 percent.