Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Pietermaritzburg Metropolitan Hospitals Complex, Grey's Hospital, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Best Pract Res Clin Obstet Gynaecol. 2012 Oct;26(5):531-40. doi: 10.1016/j.bpobgyn.2012.06.004. Epub 2012 Jul 31.
The advent of ultrasound in the 1970s heralded a milestone that could give real-time information about fetal abnormalities, and thereby improve diagnostic accuracy. This knowledge could not be used effectively to benefit the fetus for which it was intended. The 1980s saw science catching up with diagnostic advances, and fetal abnormalities could realistically be treated with an expectation of satisfactory outcomes. As a result, parents could have realistic expectations of having healthy children. Prenatal diagnosis is the first step towards this realisation, as diagnosis can be followed by intrauterine treatment. Scientists have realised that, if an abnormality can be corrected prenatally, prognosis can be improved significantly, as the initial problem does not necessarily threaten the fetus; therefore, if the prenatal condition can be dealt with early, then the downstream repercussions can be eliminated. In this chapter, we address ethical issues in prenatal diagnosis and fetal therapy.
20 世纪 70 年代，超声技术的出现开创了一个新纪元，它可以实时提供胎儿异常的信息，从而提高诊断的准确性。然而，这些知识并没有被有效地应用于胎儿，无法使其受益。到了 20 世纪 80 年代，科学技术的发展跟上了诊断技术的进步，胎儿异常可以通过治疗获得满意的结果。因此，父母可以对生育健康的孩子抱有现实的期望。产前诊断是实现这一目标的第一步，因为在诊断后可以进行宫内治疗。科学家们已经意识到，如果能在产前纠正异常，预后可以显著改善，因为初始问题不一定会威胁到胎儿；因此，如果能尽早处理产前状况，那么下游的影响就可以消除。在这一章中，我们将探讨产前诊断和胎儿治疗中的伦理问题。
