[Disturbances of neuroblast migration and amniocentesis. An under diagnosed problem?]

Performing amniocentesis between the fourth and sixth months of gestation is a widespread practice. However, it can entail serious consequences, apart from the loss of the foetus, such as injuries to the developing central nervous system.

Over the past few years we have dealt with four patients who were carriers of a focal disturbance of neuroblast migration, which could have its origins in amniocentesis. Two patients displayed mental retardation and difficult to treat epilepsy, while the other two only presented hemiparesis. In two cases the right hemisphere of the brain was affected. One of them also presented extracranial brain tissue, which was possibly extruded during the accidental puncture of the skull.

Despite its being rarely mentioned in the literature, a direct or indirect attack on the brain during diagnostic amniocentesis is a possibility that must be borne in mind when considering the use of this technique