Content
The exact number of children who have an FASD is difficult to determine. Some experts estimate that approximately 40,000 babies may be born with an FASD in the United States each year. Based on studies of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others, it is estimated that in the United States, somewhere between 800 and 8,000 babies could be born each year with fetal alcohol syndrome . There are no medications to treat fetal alcohol syndrome specifically. But certain medicines can help with symptoms like hyperactivity, inability to focus, or anxiety.
Like other drugs, alcohol can pass from the mother’s blood through the placenta fetal alcohol syndrome to the baby. Alcohol is broken down more slowly in the baby than in an adult.
Differential Diagnosis
This activity describes the pathophysiology, evaluation, and management of fetal alcohol syndrome and highlights the role of the interprofessional team in preventing this pathology. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the first diagnosable condition of FASD that was discovered. FAS is the only expression of FASD that has garnered consensus among experts to become an official ICD-9 and ICD-10 diagnosis.
Is fetal alcohol syndrome always obvious?
(Fetal alcohol syndrome is one of the disorders that falls under FASD.) Though the effects of FASD are not always obvious at birth, they do have long-term effects, including physical defects, behavioural problems, difficulties with learning and mood issues.
Despite this fact, 7.6% of women report continued drinking during pregnancy. To improve outcomes, education emphasizing abstinence from alcohol is vital. Clinicians should not wait to educate the female about the adverse effects of alcohol when she gets pregnant but start the education process at every clinic visit before the pregnancy. A mental health nurse should offer to counsel to patients who have alcohol use disorder and are of childbearing age. Only through the combined efforts of the interprofessional team can fetal alcohol syndrome be prevented.
Physical defects
Given that the CNS damage from prenatal alcohol exposure is permanent, there is no cure for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. However, treatment to mitigate the effects of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is available. Given the extensive variation in presentation and damage that prenatal exposure to alcohol can cause, treatment for fetal alcohol spectrum disorders is often tailored and specific to individuals. One of the most common treatment approaches is using the medical home to coordinate developmental and educational resources. This treatment modality takes into account the fact that fetal alcohol spectrum disorders disrupt normal neurobehavioral development and that each person can have different manifestations of those disruptions. This treatment methodology seeks to tailor specific therapies to reinforce and address any delays or deficiencies with additional education, practice, and reminders.
Despite intense research efforts, the exact mechanism for the development of FAS or FASD is unknown. On the contrary, clinical and animal studies have identified a broad spectrum of pathways through which maternal alcohol can negatively affect the outcome of a pregnancy.
Differential diagnosis
It is estimated that as many as three babies in 1,000 will have FAS. However, the rate may be three times higher in some groups of people. Women who are pregnant or who are trying to get pregnant should not drink any amount of alcohol.
Neurological problems are expressed as either hard signs, or diagnosable disorders, such as epilepsy or other seizure disorders, or soft signs. Soft signs are broader, nonspecific neurological impairments, or symptoms, such as impaired fine motor skills, neurosensory hearing loss, poor gait, clumsiness, and poor hand – eye coordination. Many soft signs have norm-referenced criteria, while others are determined through clinical judgment. “Clinical judgment” is only as good as the clinician, and soft signs should be assessed by either a pediatric neurologist, a pediatric neuropsychologist, or both. When structural impairments are not observable or do not exist, neurological impairments are assessed.
How are the eye problems in FAS treated?
The CDC guidelines are silent on these elements diagnostically. The IOM and Canadian guidelines explore this further, acknowledging the importance of significant alcohol exposure from regular or heavy episodic alcohol consumption in determining, but offer no standard for diagnosis. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome occurs when a fetus is exposed to alcohol during conception.Although traditionally believed through the mother who is pregnant woman has more than four standard drinks per day. There is evidence supporting the father before conception can cause FAS through long term epigenetic mutation of the father’s sperm as well during conception. Several characteristic craniofacial abnormalities are often visible in individuals with FAS. The presence of FAS facial features indicates brain damage, although brain damage may also exist in their absence.
- High levels of alcohol consumption in the first trimester resulted in an increased likelihood of facial and brain anomalies.
- However, even low to moderate amounts of alcohol can have adverse effects on the developing fetus’s brain and organs.
- They can be even more sensitive to disruptions in routine than an average child.
- Some symptoms can be managed with treatment by a healthcare provider, but they won’t go away.
Alcohol can change the taste of your milk, and this may be objectionable to some babies. No one treatment is right for every child, as FASD and its constellation of symptoms differ from one child to another. FASDs need a medical home to provide, coordinate, and facilitate all the necessary medical, behavioral, social, and educational services. Treatment is deterrence in the setting of fetal alcohol syndrome.
