Fetal alcohol syndrome

Definitions & Key takeaways

Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) is an umbrella term describing the range of effects that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy. FASD can include physical, behavioral, and intellectual disabilities.

There is no safe level of alcohol consumption during pregnancy, and drinking any amount can cause FASD. FASD is 100% preventable if women don't drink alcohol during pregnancy. If a woman does drink alcohol during pregnancy, there is no way to know for sure how her child will be affected.

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Fetal alcohol syndrome, or FAS, occurs because of maternal use of alcohol during pregnancy. It’s currently the leading cause of intellectual disability in the US and can cause characteristic physical abnormalities.
Normally, the fetus is connected to the placenta by the umbilical cord, so the fetus gets oxygen and nutrients from the mother.
Unfortunately, ethanol and toxic alcohol metabolites like acetaldehyde also pass freely through the placenta, but the fetal liver doesn’t have the necessary enzymes to metabolize them, so they build up inside the fetus really fast.
In FAS, ethanol interferes with cell division and proliferation, cell growth and differentiation, and with the migration of mature cells to their final location in the developing embryo, which affects the development of various fetal tissues, including the brain.
Alcohol-induced brain damage includes partial or complete agenesis of the corpus callosum, which links the two hemispheres together, so it either forms incompletely, or not at all.
This causes intellectual disability and seizures. When the frontal cortex and the hippocampus are affected, this causes poor memory and communication skills, as well as intellectual disability.
The cerebellum can also be smaller in size, called hypoplasia, leading to trouble with movement and balance. The most common symptom of FAS is growth retardation, resulting in low height and weight.
Microcephaly can also occur, which results from an overall decrease in brain growth. Children with FAS may have certain facial characteristics, like small palpebral fissures, which means reduced distance between the two sides of an eye, smooth, or flat philtrum, and a thin vermillion border, which is the border of the lip.
Other features include limb dislocation and heart defects. Now, there’s no specific blood test or brain scan to detect FAS, and the disorder is suspected based on characteristic symptoms and maternal history of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
Unfortunately, in individuals with FAS, brain damage due to ethanol toxicity is permanent. So treatment focuses on the management of the symptoms of the disease through personalized educational programs for children with trouble learning, behavioral interventions for children with difficulties in communication, and anti-seizure medications.
All right, as a quick recap… Fetal alcohol syndrome is when the fetus is affected by maternal alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
It is characterized by the presence of physical abnormalities like growth retardation, intellectual disability, and craniofacial defects.
Additional findings include limb dislocation and heart defects. Treatment is focused on the management of symptoms.