Fetal Conditions

Babies may be born with a condition that affects their lungs or respiratory system, such as:

• Bronchopulmonary sequestration: A mass of nonfunctioning lung tissue forms inside or outside the lungs.
• Congenital diaphragmatic hernia: The diaphragm doesn’t develop properly and leaves a hole in the muscle, which allows abdominal organs to move into the chest area.
• Congenital high airway obstruction syndrome: The airway is partially or totally blocked.
• Congenital pulmonary airway malformation: A solid or fluid-filled mass of abnormal lung tissue resulting in an improperly functioning area of the lung.
• Pentalogy of Cantrell: A combination of five defects found in the abdominal wall, sternum, diaphragm, pericardium, and heart.
• Pulmonary agenesis: One or both lungs fail to develop.

Before birth, babies can develop cleft and craniofacial conditions affecting the head and face or other conditions that may require plastic surgery to correct. These can include: 

• Agnathia: When one or both jaws are fully or partially missing.
• Cleft lip or Cleft palate: An opening or split in the upper lip or roof of the mouth.
• Craniosynostosis: The bones of the head fuse together too soon, affecting brain and skull growth.
• Hemifacial microsomia: The two sides of the face develop asymmetrically.
• Macroglossia: A larger-than-typical tongue.
• Micrognathia: When the lower jaw is smaller than typical.
• View more cleft and craniofacial conditions.

If your pregnancy involves twins, triplets or more, the fetuses may develop complications during development. These can include:

• Twin-reversed arterial perfusion sequence (TRAP): Develops in twins who share a placenta. One twin doesn’t develop a functional heart and the other twin pumps blood for both of them.
• Twin anemia polychythemia sequence (TAPS): Develops in twins who share a placenta. One twin has too few red blood cells (anemia) and the other has too many (polycythemia). This can lead to growth problems and organ issues in the anemic twin, while the twin with too many red blood cells may face heart problems.
• Twin-twin transfusion syndrome (TTTS): Develops in twins who share a placenta. They have an uneven distribution of fluid, leading one twin to receive too much fluid and the other too little. This can result in the loss of one or both twins or cause long-term issues like neurological or heart problems in survivors.

Congenital (present at birth) conditions affecting the digestive system, from the esophagus to intestines or anus, may include: 

• Anorectal malformations / Imperforate anus: The anal opening does not develop properly, and abnormal connections may develop between the colon and urinary system or vagina leading to inability for stool to pass properly.
• Duodenal atresia: A narrowing or blockage of the first part of the small intestine.
• Esophageal atresia / Tracheoesophageal fistula: Failure of the esophagus to develop properly, resulting in an incomplete esophageal connection from the mouth to the stomach and possible abnormal connection of the esophagus to the trachea.
• Gastroschisis: A hole in the abdominal wall allows the intestines to grow outside the abdomen.
• Imperforate anus: The anal opening doesn’t develop properly and stool can’t pass properly.
• Intestinal atresia: Blockage in the intestine.
• Intestinal duplication cysts: Noncancerous growths that can form anywhere in the gastrointestinal tract.
• Intra-abdominal cysts: Masses of tissue that grow inside the abdomen.
• Omphalocele: The abdominal wall doesn’t fully close during development, causing the intestines to grow in a sac outside the body.

When there is a problem with a baby’s genes, it can result in conditions such as:

• Down syndrome: An extra copy of chromosome 21, which affects how the brain and body develop.
• Fragile X syndrome: A genetic mutation that causes intellectual disability and learning challenges.
• Trisomy 13 (Patau syndrome): An extra copy of chromosome 13, which disrupts normal fetal development.
• Trisomy 18 (Edwards syndrome): An extra copy of chromosome 18, which can restrict fetal development and lead to life-threatening health conditions.
• Turner syndrome: When a female fetus is missing a copy of the X chromosome, which affects fetal development.

The specialists at the Fetal Heart Institute of Florida treat complex heart conditions, such as:

• Arrhythmias: Irregular heart beats.
• Cardiomyopathy: A disorder that affects the heart muscle.
• Congenital heart disease: A heart condition present at birth.
• Heart failure: The heart isn’t able to pump blood effectively.
• Hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS): The left side of the heart fails to develop properly.
• Single ventricle defects: When one ventricle (bottom chamber of the heart) is undeveloped or missing.

Common conditions that affect the kidneys, urinary tract and excretory system include: 

• Bladder exstrophy: The bladder develops outside the abdomen.
• Bladder outlet obstruction: A blockage that prevents urine from leaving the bladder.
• Cloacal anomaly: The rectum, vagina and urinary tract merge into one channel (instead of having three separate openings on the skin’s surface).
• Hydronephrosis: Inability of the kidneys to drain urine properly, causing them to swell and stretch.
• Multicystic dysplastic kidney: Cysts develop instead of healthy kidney tissue. The condition usually affects only one kidney.
• Posterior urethral valves: Folds develop that block the urethra of male babies.

Our specialist in the fetal and neonatal neurology program treat neurological defects that affect the brain, spinal cord or nerves. Conditions we treat include:

• Absent septum pellucidum: A membrane between the two hemispheres of the brain is missing.
• Agenesis of the corpus callosum: The tissue that connects the two hemispheres of the brain is missing.
• Arachnoid cyst: A noncancerous fluid-filled sac that forms on the brain.
• Dandy-Walker syndrome: The cerebellum (part of the brain that controls movement and balance) doesn’t develop properly.
• Encephalocele: An opening in the skull allows brain tissue to grow in a sac outside the skull. 
• Hydrocephalus: A buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain.
• In-utero stroke or bleed: Disruption of blood flow to the brain.
• Microencephaly: The brain and head don’t grow to normal size.
• Meningomyelocele: A type of neural tube defect in which a gap develops in the spine and a fluid-filled sac protrudes from the back.
• Neural Tube Defect: The spine and spinal cord don’t develop properly.
• Schizencephaly: A brain malformation that causes slits to form in the brain.
• Vein of Galen aneurysm: Blood vessels in the brain develop abnormally.
• Ventriculomegaly: The fluid-filled ventricles in the brain are enlarged.

You’ll consult with our pediatric orthopedic surgeons if your baby develops a musculoskeletal condition during pregnancy. They’ll help you understand your baby’s diagnosis and make a treatment plan for surgery after birth. 

• Club foot: When an infant’s foot is severely turned inward.
• Congenital limb differences
• Amniotic band syndrome: Strands of tissue from the amniotic sac break free and entangle parts of the fetus, hindering development of the affected body part.
• View additional conditions that may require orthopedic surgery.

We monitor fetal conditions leading to cancerous or noncancerous tumor growths that may require treatment after birth. These include:

• Cervical teratoma: A tumor that develops in the neck.
• Mediastinal teratoma: A tumor that grows in the space between the lungs.
• Neuroblastoma: A tumor that develops in immature nerve cells.
• Pericardial teratoma: A tumor that grows in the sac around the heart.
• Sacrococcygeal teratoma: A tumor that develops on the tailbone.