Study of congenital malformations in newborn

Abstract

First trimester in pregnancy is majorly about “Organogenesis”, formation and development of embryo, and then progression to fetus. Insult to the stages of this organogenesis leads to various anomalies; including malformations. Lack of nutrition, folate deficiency, genetic factors, teratogenic drugs or environmental exposure can lead to such malformed embryo/fetus. Viability of such fetus depends on the system affected, and the severity. Many fetus do not survive major defects, but some may reach to the stage of live births, causing major problems for survival, growth and development. The psychological impact on the couple, along with future financial strain on possible treatments are additional burdens. There have been few investigations, now made available for diagnosing many of such malformations in earlier stages of pregnancy; making us able to detect them, so that with proper counselling of the couple and possible outcome, we can take decisions on continuation or termination of pregnancy. This was a prospective study, where we studied 200 newborns who were born with congenital malformations, during time period of January 2017 to December 2019. There were total 15687 deliveries in the said time period, making the incidence of congenital malformations to be 1.27%. Most commonly involved system was central nervous system (39%), followed by musculoskeletal system (25%), followed by gastrointestinal system (11%).