Small for Gestational Age Fetuses, Small Neonates – Current Knowledge and Perspectives

A special issue of Medicina (ISSN 1648-9144).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (12 June 2023) | Viewed by 1785

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania
Interests: fetal growth restriction; maternal and fetal Doppler; hypertensive disorders in pregnancy; fetal biometry and wellbeing; fetal anomaly screening T1 & T2; aneuploidies; fetal structural anomalies

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Guest Editor
Department of Neonatology, University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Craiova, Craiova, Romania
Interests: preterm birth; neonatal brain injury; perinatal asphyxia; inflammatory bowel diseases; neonatal resuscitation; smallness in neonates

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

The prenatal period has significant impacts on an individual's development, health, and well-being from infancy to adulthood. In utero nutrition and environmental features are most probably related to conditions in adult life.

This Special Issue of Medicina aims to explore the current knowledge and perspectives about the diagnosis, management, and evolution of small-for-gestational-age fetuses and small neonates. If developing early in pregnancy, the condition may be associated with hypertensive disorders, aneuploidies, and fetal structural anomalies. The late occurrence implies a higher risk of stillbirth and requires highly specialized medicine for reaching the diagnosis.

This Special Issue allows maternal–fetal specialists and neonatologists to publicize the results of their research, with an emphasis on prenatal care in fetuses who do not achieve the expected in utero growth potential, also highlighting the continuum with the postnatal life. Despite the better understanding of pathophysiology and developing various management strategies in many pathological conditions over the last few decades, many questions remain unsolved in this fascinating field.

This Special Issue collects papers reflecting further progress in this research area in the form of original research manuscripts, articles, clinical/narrative/systematic reviews, and case reports.

Prof. Dr. Ştefania Tudorache
Dr. Mihaela Gheonea
Guest Editors

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Keywords

  • intrauterine growth restriction
  • small-for-gestational-age fetus
  • prenatal diagnosis
  • ultrasound
  • obstetrics
  • reproductive medicine
  • hypertensive disorders
  • near viability newborn
  • ethics
  • medical education
  • research design
  • epidemiology and statistics

Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

14 pages, 1953 KiB  
Article
Intrauterine Growth Restriction—Prediction and Peripartum Data on Hospital Care
by Marina Dinu, Andreea Florentina Stancioi-Cismaru, Mihaela Gheonea, Elinor Dumitru Luciu, Raluca Maria Aron, Razvan Cosmin Pana, Cristian Marius Marinas, Stefan Degeratu, Maria Sorop-Florea, Andreea Carp-Veliscu, Andreea Denisa Hodorog and Stefania Tudorache
Medicina 2023, 59(4), 773; https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina59040773 - 16 Apr 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 1549
Abstract
Background and Objectives: We aimed to prospectively obtain data on pregnancies complicated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in the Prenatal Diagnosis Unit of the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova. We collected the demographic data of mothers, the prenatal ultrasound (US) features, the intrapartum data, [...] Read more.
Background and Objectives: We aimed to prospectively obtain data on pregnancies complicated with intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR) in the Prenatal Diagnosis Unit of the Emergency County Hospital of Craiova. We collected the demographic data of mothers, the prenatal ultrasound (US) features, the intrapartum data, and the immediate postnatal data of newborns. We aimed to assess the detection rates of IUGR fetuses (the performance of the US in estimating the actual neonatal birth weight), to describe the prenatal care pattern in our unit, and to establish predictors for the number of total hospitalization days needed postnatally. Materials and Methods: Data were collected from cases diagnosed with IUGR undergoing prenatal care in our hospital. We compared the percentile of estimated fetal weight (EFW) using the Hadlock 4 technique with the percentile of weight at birth. We retrospectively performed a regression analysis to correlate the variables predicting the number of hospitalization days. Results: Data on 111 women were processed during the period of 1 September 2019–1 September 2022. We confirmed the significant differences in US features between early- (Eo) and late-onset (Lo) IUGR cases. The detection rates were higher if the EFW was lower, and Eo-IUGR was associated with a higher number of US scans. We obtained a mathematical formula for estimating the total number of hospitalization days needed postnatally. Conclusion: Early- and late-onset IUGR have different US features prenatally and different postnatal outcomes. If the US EFW percentile is lower, a prenatal diagnosis is more likely to be made, and a closer follow-up is offered in our hospital. The total number of hospitalization days may be predicted using intrapartum and immediate postnatal data in both groups, having the potential to optimize the final financial costs and to organize the neonatal department efficiently. Full article
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