New webinar from the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center: Placenta accreta spectrum disorder is a varied and increasingly common complication of pregnancy, so ob/gyns need a firm grasp of risk factors and ultrasound signs. A multidisciplinary panel of specialists from the UCSF Fetal Treatment Center explains how they handle patients to maximize outcomes, with a case-based review that illuminates their steps to evaluation and treatment.

The cause of most fetal anomalies is not determined prenatally. Exome sequencing has transformed genetic diagnosis after birth, but its usefulness for prenatal diagnosis is still emerging. Nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF), a fetal abnormality that is often lethal, has numerous genetic causes; the extent to which exome sequencing can aid in its diagnosis is unclear.

New UCSF webinar with maternal-fetal medicine specialist, Mary E. Norton, MD, discussing genetic testing options, with a focus on when exome sequencing has value to families. Also, perinatologist, Teresa N. Sparks, MD, presents specifics on exome sequencing for nonimmune hydrops fetalis, caused by many single-gene disorders, plus a look at findings from her current NIHF study.

In mouse study, stem cells migrated to proper locations in fetal brain and body, differentiated into cells that produce crucial missing protein.

Administering stem cell or enzyme therapy in utero may be a path to alleviating some congenital diseases that often result in losing a pregnancy, according to a new study in mice by UC San Francisco researchers, who showed that stem cells can enter the fetal brain during prenatal development and make up for cells that fail to make an essential protein.