The development of effective anticoagulant drugs available for use in pregnancy has resulted in dramatic improvements for a number of potentially life-threatening conditions. These include the treatment and prevention of venous thromboembolism and the thrombotic complications of antiphospholipid antibody syndrome, as well as the management of pregnant women with mechanical heart valves. The most commonly used class of drug includes heparin, a highly-charged macro-molecule that does not cross the placenta, in contrast to the potentially teratogenic and fetotoxic oral drug warfarin. This review will focus on our current lack of understanding of the wider actions of heparin and examines the possibility that large numbers of pregnant women are presently being treated inappropriately with heparin.

Normal fetal growth and development depends on multiple molecular mechanisms that coordinate both placental and fetal development. Efforts to better understand fetal/placental growth dysregulation and fetal growth restriction (FGR) are now being driven by several findings that highlight the longterm impact of FGR on susceptibility to disease. The association of poor fetal growth to perinatal medical complications is well accepted but more recent data also show that FGR is linked to common, serious adult health problems. Several large-scale human epidemiological studies from diverse countries have shown that conditions such as coronary heart disease, hypertension, stroke, type 2 diabetes mellitus, adiposity, insulin resistance and osteoporosis are more prevalent in individuals with a history of low birthweight.

Marfan syndrome (MFS) is an autosomal dominant connective tissue disorder that affects multiple organ systems, primarily the cardiovascular, ocular and skeletal. It is the most common inherited condition affecting the heart and the aorta, occurring in 1:5000–1:9800 people. There is no ethnic or gender predisposition; 20 to 35% of cases arise from de novo mutations.

Neonatal encephalopathy has been defined as “a clinically defined syndrome of disturbed neurological function in the earliest days of life in the term infant, manifested by difficulty with initiating and maintaining respiration, depression of tone and reflexes, sub normal level of consciousness and often seizures”. It occurs in about 2–3 per 1000 births in developed countries. In developing countries, neonatal encephalopathy accounts for the largest number of deaths in infancy and childhood – approximately 1 million per year worldwide. Neonatal encephalopathy is associated with significant morbidity and mortality and is an important predictor of long term neurodevelopmental disability in near- and full-term newborn infants. Fifteen to 20 percent of infants with neonatal encephalopathy die in the neonatal period, and a further 25 percent have permanent neurologic deficits.