Liabilities of the fetus as a patient

Abstract

Fetal medicine is a highly developing area in obstetrics which mainly concentrates on fetal health, fetal growth and development. The notion identifying the defects in the fetus and recognizing it as a patient is the idealistic base of this science. This engages wide specialties such as paediatric cardiologists, paediatric neurologists, and geneticists (Mohammed and Bui, JPMA J Pak Med Assoc 60:417-418, 2010). In this review, an effort is put forth to investigate recent advances in the field of fetal medicine. In the previous two decades, this branch experienced critical changes. Progression in fetal medicine includes diagnosing and treating the fetus in utero. Previously, treatment was possible only during the neonatal period (O’Brien and Kumar, Obstet Gynecol 7:183-189, 2005). Progressions in fetal medicine aid in diagnosing fetal issues prenatally and offer the possibility of administration before birth as additionally enhancing post-natal treatment.