Advances in fetal therapy

The past few years have seen rapid advances in the understanding and management of fetal disease. The development of high-resolution and 3D/4D ultrasound and the ability to analyse fetal DNA in the maternal blood have proved to be exciting innovations. In utero fetal therapy is, however, still limited by the complications of preterm labour and premature rupture of membranes, and the further development of endoscopic procedures is dependent on improvements in the management of these complications. In this article, we look at some of the recent advances in fetal medicine and speculate on the possible directions that future developments may take.