Recognition, diagnosis and treatment of fetal alcohol syndrome. 2011

G Bradley Schaefer, and David Deere
Arkansas Team of the Midwest Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Training Center, USA.

Fetal Alcohol spectrum disorders are extremely common. The clinical impact and societal effects are tremendous. Prevention and treatment of these disorders begins with an accurate diagnosis. All health care providers who work with children (and adults) with special health care needs should be alert to these findings. The key to early diagnosis is to always keep the diagnostic possibility in the broad differential diagnoses of growth and developmental disorders. As with most conditions, early recognition and intervention is associated with better outcomes. Once an FASD is identified in a specific patient, prompt referrals and enrollment in indicated services are necessary to get the best outcomes. In this article we review the diagnostic criteria and clues to prompt early identification of FASDs. We also discuss the therapeutic options shown to be most effective for this group of individuals.

UI MeSH Term Description Entries
D010372 Pediatrics A medical specialty concerned with maintaining health and providing medical care to children from birth to adolescence.
D011247 Pregnancy The status during which female mammals carry their developing young (EMBRYOS or FETUSES) in utero before birth, beginning from FERTILIZATION to BIRTH. Gestation,Pregnancies
D003937 Diagnosis, Differential Determination of which one of two or more diseases or conditions a patient is suffering from by systematically comparing and contrasting results of diagnostic measures. Diagnoses, Differential,Differential Diagnoses,Differential Diagnosis
D005260 Female Females
D006801 Humans Members of the species Homo sapiens. Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D001131 Arkansas State of the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA bounded on the north by Missouri, on the east by Tennessee and Mississippi, on the south by Louisiana, and on the west by Oklahoma and Texas.
D063647 Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders An umbrella term used to describe a pattern of disabilities and abnormalities that result from fetal exposure to ETHANOL during pregnancy. It encompasses a phenotypic range that can vary greatly between individuals, but reliably includes one or more of the following: characteristic facial dysmorphism, FETAL GROWTH RETARDATION, central nervous system abnormalities, cognitive and/or behavioral dysfunction, BIRTH DEFECTS. The level of maternal alcohol consumption does not necessarily correlate directly with disease severity. Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder,Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder,Alcohol-Related Birth Defects,FAE (Fetal Alcohol Effects),FASD,Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,Growth Retardation, Facial Abnormalities, and Central Nervous System Dysfunction,Partial Fetal Alcohol Syndrome,Alcohol Related Birth Defects,Birth Defects, Alcohol-Related,FAEs (Fetal Alcohol Effects),FASDs,Syndrome, Fetal Alcohol

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