[Management of 103 limb reduction defects: a French-speaking fetal medicine club enquiry]
Objectives:
Prenatal diagnosis of a limb reduction defect poses difficult medical and ethical problems. Prenatal diagnosis can be at the origin of two opposing medical attitudes, either a medical termination of pregnancy, or the specific management of the child at birth. The objective is to carry out an enquiry of practices and to determine whether there is a threshold in the gravity of the malformation from which the medical termination of pregnancy is accepted.
Material And Method:
The study was carried out by a questionnaire addressed to the members of the French-speaking Club of Fetal Medicine.
Results:
Outcome of 103 fetuses with limb reduction defect was described. Prenatal diagnosis and management of observed malformations were explained.
Conclusion:
Decisions concerning the outcome of the pregnancy are very variable from one couple to another and from one medical team to another. Parents making a request must be given complete information and accompanying psychological support. Collegial with a multidisciplinary team is necessary. For the parents, it is the physician's duty to avoid judgement errors related to anxiety and ignorance of the medical consequences. The physician should guide the parents towards the continuation of the pregnancy or its interruption. The proper decision proceeds from the reunion of the confidence of the couple and the conscience of the physician.
