Fetal hydrops is a rare disease in which fluid accumulates in various parts of the baby's body during gestation, such as in the lungs, heart, and abdomen. This disease is very serious being of difficult treatment and can lead to the death of the baby still early in life or to a miscarriage.
In February 2016 the hydrops was found in a fetus that also had microcephaly and did not survive gestation. However, the connection between Zika and fetal hydrops is still unclear and seems rare, the most serious and common complication of Zika in pregnancy remains microcephaly. Understand the complications of Zika in pregnancy.
What can cause fetal hydrops
Fetal hydrops may be of non-immune causes or may be immune, which is when the mother has a negative blood type, such as A-, and the fetus in a positive blood type, such as B +. This difference causes problems between mother and child and should be treated early to avoid complications. See more in: How Negative Blood Type Can Affect Pregnancy.
Among the causes of the nonimmune type are:
- Problems in the fetus: changes in the heart or lungs;
- Genetic alterations: Edwards syndrome, Down syndrome, Turner syndrome or alpha-amassemia;
- Infections: cytomegalovirus, rubella, herpes, syphilis, toxoplasmosis and parvovirus B-19;
- Problems in the mother: pre-eclampsia, diabetes, severe anemia, lack of protein in the blood and Mirror Syndrome, which is a generalized swelling in the mother's body and the fetus.
In addition, this problem can also arise naturally in an apparently healthy pregnancy, without a cause being identified.
How To Know if Your Baby Has Hydrops
The diagnosis of fetal hydrops is made from the end of the first trimester of pregnancy through ultrasound examination during prenatal care, which is able to show excess amniotic fluid and swelling in the placenta and in various regions of the baby's body.
Fetal hydrops complications
When the fetus presents fetal hydrops, complications can arise that vary according to the affected part of the body. The most serious cases arise when fluid is present in the baby's brain, which can lead to poor development of all organs and systems.
However, hydrops may also affect only part of the body, such as the lungs and in this case there are only respiratory complications. Thus, the complications are not always the same and each case must be evaluated by the pediatrician, and tests must be performed that prove the severity of the disease and which treatment is most indicated.
How to treat and cure fetal hydrops
When the disease is discovered during gestation the obstetrician may recommend the use of corticosteroids or medicines that accelerate the development of the baby, or may recommend surgery in the fetus still in the uterus to correct problems in the heart or lungs when these organs are affected .
In some cases, it may be advisable to give a premature delivery by caesarean section.
Surviving babies should be treated soon after birth, but the treatment depends on how the baby was affected and the severity of the illness, which depends on the cause of the hydrops. In cases of immune fetal hydrops or where the cause is anemia or parvovirus infection, treatment can be done through blood transfusions, for example.
In cases of mild hydrops cure can be achieved, however, when the fetus is severely affected there may be a miscarriage, for example.
Find out what the main warning signs are in pregnancy and be careful to avoid complications.
