Diagnosis and Treatment of Fetal Disorders, 1968 Proceedings of the International Symposium on Diagnosis and Treatment of Disorders Affecting the Intrauterine Patient, Dorado, Puerto Rico, October 29-31, 1967

HOWARD C. TAYLOR, JR. Medicine, through its long history, has continually striven to enlarge its scope. Success in these endeavors has come in sudden bursts with long intervals of relative quiescence between. As a result of the spectacular discoveries in the basic sciences during the last decades, medicine is again in a period of revolutionary advance in many fields. One of these is the subject of this report, "The Intrauterine Patient." Until recently the fetus signalized his presence only by the mother's enlarging abdomen and by his own movements, perceived by the preg­ nant woman herself and evident to the examining midwife and physician. Later, the sounds of the fetal heart heard by auscultation and the varia­ tions in its rate became the single important means by which the welfare of the fetus might be roughly determined and threats to his survival per­ haps detected. Otherwise, the fetus remained isolated, his condition unknown and any therapy consequent on diagnosis, except for the induc­ tion or termination of labor, nonexistent.

Morphologic and Cytogenetic Methods in the Diagnosis of Fetal Conditions.- Deprivation of the Human Fetus: Forms, Causes and Significance.- The Future of Antepartum Morphologic Studies.- Placental Biopsy: Results, Limitations and Topographical Differences.- Prenatal Sex-Chromatin and Chromosome Analysis.- Metabolic Performance of the Placenta and Fetus.- Cellular Growth of the Placenta as an Indicator of Abnormal Growth.- The Role of the Placenta in the Synthesis and Metabolism of Proteins.- Estimation of Rates of Production and Transfer of Hormones in Pregnancy.- Amniotic Fluid and Fetal Blood as Indicators of Fetal Circumstance.- Constituents of Amniotic Fluid: Reflections of Normal and Abnormal Fetal Maturation.- Amnioscopy and Fetal Blood Sampling.- Maternal-Fetal Acid-Base Relationships.- Use of Fetal Blood Sampling and Fetal Heart Rate Monitoring.- The Validity of Capillary Blood in the Assessment of the Acid-Base State of the Fetus.- Predictability and Complications of Fetal Blood Sampling.- Physical Methods in the Assessment of the Fetus.- Biophysical Studies of the Human Fetus.- Correlation of Intrapartum Changes in Fetal Heart Rate with Fetal Oxygen and Acid-Base State.- The Clinical and Pathological Effects of Asphyxiation in the Fetal Rhesus Monkey.- Gastrointestinal Activity and Water Absorptive Capacity of the Fetus.- Prenatal Treatment.- Indications and Results of Fetal Transfusions.- Surgical Treatment of Erythroblastosis Fetalis.- Intraperitoneal Blood Transfusion in the Fetal Lamb.- Prevention of Rh Disease with Passive Rh Immunoglobin.- Hepatic Microsomal Drug Metabolism in the Perinatal Period.