Date:05/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/05/stories/2009070551900300.htm

Karnataka - Gulbarga

Foetal therapy is viable: expert

Special Correspondent

THE HINDU

Honoured: Consultant in foetal medicine Rajeshwari Pawar being felicitated by dean of Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College Mallikarjun Bhandare in Gulbarga on Saturday.

GULBARGA: Leading consultant in foetal medicine Rajeshwari Pawar, who works at Jehangir Hospital in Pune, has said that obstetricians can now achieve the double goal of ensuring a good outcome for the woman and her child by effectively using foetal therapy during pregnancy.

Dr. Pawar was delivering the Dr. G.V. Sambrani Oration organised by the Dr. P.S. Shankar Pratishthan at Mahadevappa Rampure Medical College here on Saturday. She said that owing to the emergence of foetal medicine as a sub-speciality, the foetus was now being viewed as an individual patient, and treatment and corrective measures were being taken using ultrasonography and foetoscopy to know the status of the foetus.

Dr. Pawar said that termination of pregnancy was not the only answer to foetal disorders. There were certain foetal conditions that showed a beneficial response if treated intrauterine. There was a need to create awareness on the benefits of treating these conditions intrauterine.

She said that the simplest example of medical therapy proven to be beneficial to the foetus was periconceptional administration of folic acid. Folic acid should be given to a woman at least three months prior to pregnancy. “In fact, presenting a pack of folic acid tablets at the wedding would be the best gift to the couple.”

Dr. Pawar said the first surgical treatment called “needling” was done in 1968 when intrauterine foetal transfusion was given to a foetus that showed evidence of anaemia while still in the womb. Dean of the college and senior paediatrician Mallikarjun Bhandare presided over the event.