ABSTRACT
In recent years our knowledge about the fetus has developed spectacularly as a result of the progressive introduction of a wide range of technological procedures. At the end of the 1960s, increased knowledge about the hormonal aspects of what is known as the ‘fetal-placental unit’ (by Diczfalusy, Klopper, Lauritzen, among others) and, particularly, improvements in the procedures for continuous monitoring of fetal heart rate and uterine activity (by Caldeyro-Barcia, Hon, Hammacher, etc.) led to the term ‘fetal medicine’ being coined. However, this new medical subspecialty did not begin to take shape until the beginning of the 1970s, when ultrasound became increasingly widespread and, at last, the fetus could be ‘seen’. Armed with these new resources specialists began to realize that, for the first time, the fetus could be considered as a ‘patient’. Their efforts could now be focused on monitoring the patient during both pregnancy and birth itself.
