The Semmelweis University Experience

Abstract

The author has worked in genetic counseling and prenatal genetic diagnosis and screening since 1966. He has been the Head of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Semmelweis University of Budapest for 10 years where he founded its center of prenatal genetics. This tertiary center aims to treat as many pregnancies with a prenatal diagnosis or suspicion of fetal anomalies as possible for confirmation, further testing and possible termination of pregnancy. The department is equipped with an in-house cytogenetic, molecular genetic, fetopathological and ultrasound laboratory and deals with the methodological, psychological, ethical, and legal aspects of abortions. Their excellent database facilitates the follow-up of maternal and fetal patients, in order to investigate the efficiency of genetic counseling and diagnosis. As the President of the Hungarian College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Hungarian Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology, Zoltán Papp oversees the prenatal diagnosis system for the whole of Hungary. He has also developed and now supervises the quality assurance system which ensures effective and reliable ultrasound screening for pregnant women.

Major Diagnostic and Pathological Features of Iniencephaly Based on Twenty-Four Cases

“…Analyzing the prevalence of neural tube defects at birth in our database [9] , especially that of anencephaly, we were able to detect a similar relatively high prevalence rate (3.5: 1,000), which might refer to a similar etiology of both malformations. Although the anomaly is more common in females [4,10] , its etiology is not yet fully understood.…”