[Programs of systematic screening in neonatology. Pharmaco-economic aspects]

Systematic neonatal screening offers many advantages for the patients, its family and the community. The Genetic center of the University Hospital of Liège provides neonatal screening for the following diseases: phenylketonuria, congenital hypothyroidy, cystic fibrosis, alpha-1-antitrypsin, adrenal hyperplasia and biotinidase deficiency. On economical grounds, it is clear that the organisation of neonatal screening costs less to the community than the cost of the disease if diagnosis is made too late as to allow an alleviation, or even a total recovery, of the symptomatology.