FAS syndrome in children is a consequence of mother's addiction to ethanol-containing drinks. The most dangerous period is the 1st and 2nd trimesters of pregnancy, when alcohol has the most toxic effect on the fetus, causing irreversible disturbances in the formation of organs and systems.
According to WHO statistics, about 130 thousand newborns with such a diagnosis appear in Russia every year.
External features of a child with fetal alcohol syndrome: short stature, poor speech, memory, asthenicity, underdeveloped limbs, deep nose and nose with a “button”.
Causes of pathology and physiological changes
The main reason for FAS is woman alcoholism! Regular consumption of alcohol-containing drinks before conception and during pregnancy leads to a malfunction in cell formation and fetal development.
Systems and organs do not grow properly.
The probability of FAS in a child increases by 20-30% if the mother drank alcohol before conception. But a greater risk (from 60%) in the case of alcohol during pregnancy from the day of fertilization to 6 months.
Factors that provoke FAS:
- long-term intake of ethanol (long experience of alcoholism);
- the amount of drink during childbearing;
- strength of drinks and purity of the product;
- the frequency of development of withdrawal symptoms or a hangover (including TSA), acute intoxication.
The risk of FAS is higher in the mother with a high digestibility of alcohol. This is especially dangerous for women living in cold climates (67% of all cases of the disease in the world). This is due to the slow metabolism of substances in the human body.
The mechanism of development of fetal abnormalities is the direct effect of the ethanol molecule on the absorption of micro- and macroelements by the cells of the embryo. Ethyl (alcohol) does not provoke the digestibility of the protein, but this is the "building" material of the cells. Also: hypoglycemia, intrauterine hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and narrowing of the lumen of blood vessels. As a result, cells cannot form in tissues, organs (adhesion), a malfunction in the growth of the brain occurs, neuronal connections are lost and remain underdeveloped. All this leads to poor fetal development and the birth of inferior (physically and mentally) children.
How does FAS appear externally?
It is impossible to interpret fetal alcohol syndrome according to 1-2 signs. This is a combination of visible and internal pathologies, on the basis of which the neonatologist makes a diagnosis: fetal alcohol syndrome. An ignorant person in medicine may notice something disproportionate in the appearance of the child, especially after 2 years of age. Such children differ from completely healthy ones, but with a mild degree, FAS can lead a completely normal lifestyle. To note that the mother of such a child abuses alcohol, only a specialist can.
What symptoms are important (symptom complex):
- Characteristic external sign - a deep-set nose bridge, as if pressed, steeply drawn inward, which is why the tip itself rushes up. Maybe someone will consider it a piquant, upturned nose, but for the doctor it will be a signal for observing the baby.
- Swollen eyelids (the upper eyelids hang over the eye, as it were), which creates the illusion of swelling;
- An underdeveloped chin, a large forehead and a flat face;
- Small skull;
- Low set but large auricles, sometimes fancifully curved with folds that are normally absent.
In one child out of 10, FAS is manifested in the form of a cleft lip, in 80% of cases the upper lip remains very narrow, the nasolabial fold is very smooth, the lower jaw is small.
Fetopathy (anomaly of the fetus) is characterized by the underdevelopment of ODA (bones and ligaments), the genitourinary system, digestive organs, and muscle tissue. The child further, in adulthood, will always be asthenic, pale, undersized.
Underdevelopment of the brain is a characteristic sign of the pathology of the central nervous system, as a result of incomplete growth, whole areas fall out that are responsible for vision, hearing, learning ability, socialization, attention.
Children with FAS remain asocial, with a difficult character, emotionally unstable.
Often they are not aware of the consequences of their actions, they harm relatives, outsiders, themselves. They need constant monitoring by a neurologist, psychologist and the supervision of social organs.
Manifestations by the degree and form of the disease
Alcohol embryofetopathy is expressed in mild, moderate and severe.
In 1 tbsp. FAS children outwardly differ little from their peers; they study in ordinary schools, but are somewhat behind in development.
People around you may notice some strangeness in their behavior or appearance.
The second degree is characterized by a pronounced syndrome (a set of signs), in which you can see the special structure of the face, skull. A child cannot socialize in a kindergarten, school, therefore, he is kept under constant supervision and trained in boarding schools.
The third (severe) degree is dementia with an IQ below 60. Serious CNS pathologies, internal abnormalities are revealed. Due to the underdevelopment of organs and the brain, such children in 75% of cases die in infancy.
Diagnosis and treatment
It is impossible to make a diagnosis during pregnancy, therefore, in 90% of cases, FAS in a newborn is detected only at birth.
It is realistic to suspect that if an ultrasound scan is found:
- disproportionate parameters (skull, limbs, brain);
- craniocerebral hernia;
- non-closure of the arc of the spinal column;
- facial defects;
- abnormalities of the esophagus and heart.
Treatment is prescribed based on the examination of the newborn, taking into account the revealed pathologies, the degree of alcoholism of the mother, the results of an MRI of the head.
Fetal alcohol syndrome - an incurable disease! Only 26% of children survive to 21 years with a mild to moderate degree of pathology. There are no drugs, the treatment is based on the socialization of the baby, correction of internal pathologies (operations), constant monitoring by a neurologist, psychologist.
To drink or not to drink? The woman makes this decision on her own, but in the case of the wrong choice, the risk of having an inferior child with FAS syndrome is very high.
