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Résumé: Les prélèvements fœtaux concernent encore 6 à 7 % des grossesses en France. Si dans la majorité des cas, le prélèvement ne présente pas de difficulté pour un opérateur entraîné, il peut arriver que des circonstances particulières liées au terrain maternel (traitements anticoagulants, métrorragies, fièvre, etc.) rendent le geste plus difficile à réaliser. À partir d’un questionnaire adressé aux centres pluridisciplinaires de diagnostic prénatal français et d’une revue de la littérature, nous établissons une conduite à tenir pour des prélèvements fœtaux dans ces différentes circonstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objective: To evaluate the caregivers’ opinions regarding decision-making in termination of pregnancy (TOP) for fetal anomaly. Material and methods: Questionnaire survey using a semi-structured survey based on visual analogue scales, sent to all multidisciplinary centres for prenatal diagnosis in France. Answers were received from 26 centres nation-wide. Results: Response rate was 39% (213 responses received over 550 questionnaires sent). Fifty-five percent of respondents were women, 90% physicians, 7,5% midwives. A vast majority (69.8%) believes that their own convictions play a bigger role in decision in real practice than in their ideal. The major decisional factors in decision-making for TOP are: the long-term prognosis of the anomaly, a specialized opinion on its curability, the quality of the information given to the future parents, their expressed opinion, the existence of a multidisciplinary decision, the ability of the future parents to understand the medical data, the obtention of a medical consensus, the proof level of the medical information. For only 55% of the respondents, the current legal framework is adequate to manage the situations that result from prenatal diagnostic practices today. The question of late third-trimester TOP raises ethical debate: over a third (37%) see no ethical difference between TOP and withdrawal of care during the neonatal period; the majority (48% versus 43%) feel that ethically speaking a neonate and a foetus at 39weeks gestational age (GA) should not be treated differently; 37% of the respondents feel that current practice is likely to lead to eugenism. Discussion and conclusion: As far as TOP is concerned, the huge discrepancies in responses from the professionals highlight the ongoing ethical debate, especially concerning the concept of informed choice in TOP, which we believe should be entirely revisited. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe the diagnosis, the care and the prognosis of the fetuses with an antenataly diagnosed megacystis. Patients and methods: Six year retrospective study about 46 cases of megacystis (26 diagnosed during 1st trimester; 14 during 2nd trimester; 9 during 3rd trimester) referred in the prenatal fetal medicine unit of the Femme–Mère-Enfant hospital in Lyon (France). Results: The main aetiology is urethral occlusion, particularly for megacystis discovered during the 1st and the 2nd trimesters. Twenty-two terminations of pregnancy were performed (47.8%) and 6 pregnancies arrested spontaneously (13%). Eighteen children were born alive, but 2 died in neonatal period. Finally, 16 children survived (34.8%). Chromosomal abnormalities are frequent (22%). Discussion and conclusion: Antenatal discovery of a megacystis is a complex situation, and often of poor fetal prognosis. It requires a multidisciplinary approach to allow the concerned couple to be determined on the best care of this pregnancy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Objectives: Maternity has been denied to blind women for a long time, and is still often criticized or not understood in a very demanding social environment for the future mothers. Our objective is to describe the follow-up of the pregnancies and the childbirth of the visual handicapped women within the framework of a dedicated network of care liking with the Maternal and Infant Protection Unit and the paediatric ward. Patients and method: We studied a retrospective series of 18 women blind or amblyopic followed up at the at the institut de puériculture et périnatologie (Paris, France) from 2001 to 2006. We report the social and morphological characteristics women, the characteristics of the monitoring of their pregnancy and childbirth and the approach of antenatal care. The results were compared with the data of the average French population studied in the perinatal investigation of 2003. Results: The pregnancies proceeded without particular obstetrical complications and lead to the birth of 20 healthy children. The population of the women is older than the French average, of higher initial weight. There is no increase in the number of consultation and ultrasound scans. The characteristics of the follow-up are discussed. Discussion and conclusion: Each maternity team should be able to follow and deliver women with a visual defect. Some specificity however needs to be helped along for these future mothers. The training of the professionals, the work within a dedicated network and the adjusting of our methodologies not only come to improve the pregnancies but also to enrich our practices. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Résumé: La loi no 2002-303 du 4 mars 2002 n’est pas applicable à une demande formulée après son entrée en vigueur mais se rapportant à des faits qui lui sont antérieurs. En conséquence, il incombait à la cour d’appel de rechercher si les divers manquements reprochés au gynécologue obstétricien constituaient ou non une faute simple. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Summary: Aim of the study: To evaluate the impact of prenatal diagnosis on the epidemiology and outcome of children with posterior urethral valves (PUV), considering that today termination of pregnancy may be proposed in the most severe cases. Patients and methods: Forty-three cases of patients with PUV were diagnosed between 1998 and 2007 in the Languedoc-Roussillon region. In this study, we detailed the prenatal data and postnatal outcome of those patients with a mean follow-up period of 7.6 years. Results: Medical interruption of pregnancy was performed in 15 severe cases. One death in utero was also observed. Twenty-seven patients were managed postnatally and one child died during the neonatal period because of lung hypoplasia. For the 26 remaining patients at the end of the follow-up period, 5 had mild renal insufficiency with a creatinine clearance calculated with the Schwartz formula of less than 80ml/min/1.73m2. One reached end-stage renal failure at the age of 7 years. Proteinuria and hypertension were rare. Discussion and conclusion: Today, because of the increase in medical termination of pregnancy in the most severe cases, most of the children born alive with PUV experienced a better renal prognosis when compared with previous data. Prenatal diagnosis and therapeutic progress significantly modified the epidemiology and outcome of this disease. Nevertheless, the best predictor of renal outcome remains renal function at 1 year of age. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]