Fetal dropsy is a rare disease in which fluids accumulate in different parts of the baby's body during pregnancy, such as in the lungs, heart and abdomen. This disease is very serious and difficult to treat and can lead to the baby's death early in life or a miscarriage.
In February 2016, dropsy was found in a fetus who also had microcephaly and ended up not surviving the pregnancy. However, the link 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 dropsy may be of non-immune causes or it 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 the mother and the child and must be treated from the beginning to avoid complications. See more at: How negative blood type can affect pregnancy.
Among the causes of the non-immune type are:
- Fetal problems: changes in the heart or lungs;
- Genetic alterations: Edwards' syndrome, Down's syndrome, Turner's syndrome or alpha-thalassemia;
- Infections: cytomegalovirus, rubella, herpes, syphilis, toxoplasmosis and parvovirus B-19;
- Problems in the mother: pre-eclampsia, diabetes, severe anemia, lack of proteins in the blood and Mirror Syndrome, which is a generalized swelling in the body of the mother and fetus.
In addition, this problem can also arise naturally in an apparently healthy pregnancy, without a cause being identified.
How to tell if your baby has dropsy
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 different regions of the baby's body.
Complications of fetal hydrops
When the fetus has hydrops fetalis complications can arise that vary according to the part of the body affected. The most serious cases arise when the fluid is present in the baby's brain, which can lead to the poor development of all organs and systems.
However, dropsy can also affect only a 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 carried out to prove the severity of the disease and which treatment is most suitable.
How to treat and cure fetal hydrops
When the disease is discovered during pregnancy, the obstetrician may recommend the use of corticosteroid medications or that accelerate the baby's development, or may recommend surgery on the fetus while still in the womb to correct problems in the heart or lungs, when these organs are affected .
In some cases, it may be recommended to deliver a baby prematurely through a caesarean section.
Surviving babies should be treated soon after birth, but treatment depends on how the baby was affected and the severity of the disease, which depends on the cause of the dropsy. In cases of immune fetal hydrops or when the cause is anemia or parvovirus infection, treatment can be done through blood transfusions, for example.
In cases of mild dropsy, cure can be achieved, however, when the fetus is severely affected, there may be a miscarriage, for example.
Find out what are the main warning signs in pregnancy and be careful to avoid complications.
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