Developmental neurology of the fetus

The use of modern ultrasound equipment has opened the way to fetal neurology. The aim is to provide the obstetrician with standardized and comprehensive methods to evaluate the neurological condition in compromised fetuses. Such possibilities will greatly improve assessments which have so far been based only on fetal heart rate monitoring and quantitative counts of fetal motility. The most important candidates for neurological assessment are the quality of fetal movements, in particular of general movements, and in the near-term fetus the organization of behavioural states. Less suitable, because of limited sensitivity, is the quantitative assessment of fetal movements, even when carried out with ultrasound. The most problematic approach is testing the fetus with vibro-acoustic stimuli, which induce abnormal behavioural states of prolonged duration and are therefore potentially harmful.