[Intra-uterine diagnosis of a central nervous system abnormality (author's transl)]

The authors report a case of intra-uterine fetal convulsions. This is a very rare happening in which the cause is not easy to differentiate between a congenital or a traumatic factor. Some features have already been published. Most of them are connected with the syndrome of lack of pyridoxine, which is a familial condition transmitted by a recessive autosome. This diagnosis should be throught of because such a lack is lethal when not treated, and is curable without any after-effects simply by taking pyridoxin. The authors point out the importance of a qualitative analysis and not only a quantitative measurement of active movements that alone can lead to the detection of such abnormalities in fetal behaviour.