ETHICAL DILEMMA IN THE PREGNANCY WITH FETAL MALFORMATIONS

Congenital heart malformations, with an incidence of 6-8/1,000 births, represent about 30% of cases of infant mortality due to congenital abnormalities. Of these, most require immediate corrective surgery in the neonatal period. Kidney and urinary tract malformations have an incidence of approximately 1%. The development of ultrasound techniques allowed for prenatal diagnosis of many fetal malformations, some of them life-threatening. Thus, important ethical problems occur, concerning abortion or guidance of the pregnant woman to a center where the newborn will be operated in the first hours of life.