ABSTRACT
Twenty years, ago the concept of a specialist in fetal medicine was virtually unknown. Obstetric care was focused on ensuring the wellbeing of the mother, since the fetus was inaccessible for diagnosis or treatment. Two areas of technical advance, real-time ultrasound and genetic diagnosis, have so altered our abilities that our whole concept of the fetus has changed and it is recognized as a patient, like any other, amenable to diagnosis and treatment.
