Thirty-seven fetuses with severe rhesus isoimmunization with a gestational age of less than 30 week underwent 92 intravascular transfusions. Of these, 77 were intracardiac, 13 umbilical vein and two umbilical artery transfusions. Procedure related complications occurred at eight (10%) intracardiac and at two (14%) umbilical cord transfusions. Reversal of hydrops was observed in 10 of 16 fetuses...

A dramatic late-gestation increase in fetal plasma cortisol concentrations is critical for the timing of parturition in the sheep. This increase appears to depend upon an intact hypothalamo-pituitary unit and is characterised by increasing responsiveness of the fetal adrenal gland to ACTH. ACTH has been postulated as the critical determinant of the late-gestation cortisol increase; however, rec...

The study was performed on 82 small saphenous veins in human fetuses of both sexes aged 9 to 37 weeks. The earliest valves were observed in 13 week-old fetuses. In fetuses between 13 and 18 weeks old the number of valves increased from 1 to 8. In the older fetuses between 19 and 37 weeks the number of valves varied from 5 to 9 and does not seem to be related to age. During development more valv...

We reviewed the outcome of fetal hydronephrosis with a renal pelvic dilatation (RPD) of 4-7 mm to assess whether a RPD > 7 mm had a higher predictive value for renal pathology. 373 fetuses were diagnosed with hydronephrosis giving an incidence of 2.2%. The male: female ratio was 1.8:1. 5(1.34%) fetuses with antenatal hydronephrosis were diagnosed with Down Syndrome. 299 (91.7% fetuses with an R...

Objectives This study aimed to evaluate the feasibility of direct visualization a normal fetal palate and detect cleft in first trimester with novel three-dimensional ultrasound (3D US) technique, Crystal Realistic Vue (CRV) rendering technology. Methods Two-dimensional (2D) images 3D volumes healthy fetuses at 11–13 +6 weeks were obtained prospectively. 2D views included coronal view retronasa...

Two fetuses, terminated after prenatal diagnosis of aneural tube defect, had Meckel syndrome. There have now been three fetuses with this syndrome in a series of 35 terminated because of open lesions of the neural tube. It is suggested that such therapeutically aborted fetuses represent a highly selected group, among which a rare condition like Meckel syndrome will be concentrated. The need for...

Inbred BALB/c mice are genetically the same, yet less than half of adults show absent or small corpus callosum. Is this because only a minority has prenatal defects of the sling at the telencephalic midline, or do most fetuses have a defective sling but some are able to form a corpus callosum via some other substrate pathway? This question was addressed by comparing large samples of BALB/c fetu...

The fetal heart is highly sensitive to changes in mechanical load. We have previously demonstrated that increased cardiac load can stimulate cell cycle activity and maturation of immature cardiomyocytes, but the effects of reduced load are not known. Sixteen fetal sheep were given either continuous intravenous infusion of lactated Ringer solution (LR) or enalaprilat, an angiotensin-converting e...

The objective of this paper was to study the morphology of the articular disc and analyze the immunohistochemical expression of the marker of type IV collagen in the articular disc of the temporomandibular joint (TMJ) of human fetuses of different gestational ages. Twenty TMJ from human fetuses aging from 21 to 24 weeks of intrauterine life were studied. The TMJ were supplied by the Federal Uni...

Cloned pigs generated by somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT) show a greater ratio of early abortion during mid-gestation than normal controls. X-linked genes have been demonstrated to be important for the development of cloned embryos. To determine the relationship between the expression of X-linked genes and abortion of cloned porcine fetuses, the expression of X-linked genes were investigate...