Future developments in obstetrics. View of clinical aspects

The core problems in prenatal medicine have not changed in recent years despite progress in medical knowledge and technical innovations. The challenges for obstetricians are still preterm birth, preeclampsia, intrauterine growth restriction and fetal anomalies. At the time when treatment in hospital due to these problems becomes necessary, a fundamental treatment is in most cases no longer possible; therefore, modern prenatal medicine focuses on an individualized preventive medicine strategy. For all of these problems it is possible to compute a patient-specific risk at the beginning of pregnancy that can be used to identify high risk patients who need intensive care treatment. New treatment strategies can help to lower the risk in this high risk group.