Consideraciones científicas y éticas en las perspectivas diagnósticas y terapéuticas en medicina fetal / Scientific and ethical perspectives of perinatal and fetal medicine

This review emphasizes the importance of recent developments and knowledge on cell biology and human genetics than have integrated, through a basic-clinical concept to an emerging branch of medicine, called Perinatal and Fetal Medicine. We discuss the possible role of fetal cells and DNA in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases in the intrauterine environment. The associated bioethical issues associated to these medical actions are discussed, considering the imminent use ofthese agents in the human species.

Eficacia de los hipoglicemiantes orales en el control metabólico de pacientes con diabetes mellitus gestacional / Effectiveness of oral hypoglycemic drugs in the metabolic control of patients with gestational diabetes

Gestational Diabetes is characterized by different degrees of glucose intolerance that produce a series of fetal and perinatal alterations. During many years, in those cases of gestational diabetes that did not respond to nutritional interventions, the use of insulin was a proven treatment to achieve metabolic control and thus a better perinatal outcome. At present, some new oral hypoglycemic drugs, from the family of sulfonylureas and biguanides, have been shown to be safe, of low cost, and apparently effective in the metabolic control of this disease. We review the publications that propose the use of oral hypoglycemic drugs for the metabolic control of gestational diabetes that does not respond to nutritional measures.