[Alcoholic embryopathy]

The experiences hitherto made and the clinical reports speak for a causal connection between chronic alcohol abuse of pregnant women and an intrauterine fetal lesion, the prognosis of which is not favourable. The feature of the alcohol embryopathy mainly distinguishes itself by prenatal and postnatal disturbances of growth, cerebral lesions, signs of the craniofacial dysmorphism, dysmorphous signs at the extremities and at the skeleton, cardiovascular dysplasias, anomalies at the genitals as well as abnormal furrows of the fingers and atypical dermatoglyphes. Occurrence and degree of severity of the malformation syndrome depend on the quantity of alcohol taken, the duration of the influence of alcohol, the phase of the disease of the mother, the moment of the alcohol exposition during pregnancy and a genetically conditioned different activity of the alcohol hydrogenase. The prophylaxis of the alcohol embryopathy consists in the influence on drinking manners usage as well as in the recommendation of an interruption of pregnancy in severe cases of chronic alcoholism.