feto-, fet-, feti-, foeto-, foet- +

Estimation of the size of the foetus; especially, of its head, prior to delivery.

1. A morbid condition in the embryo or fetus; embryopathy.
2. Disease in a fetus after the mother's third month of pregnancy.

A reference to the fetus and its placenta.

An antigen present in the human fetus and in certain pathological conditions in adults.

The amniotic fluid level can be used to evaluate fetal development. Elevated serum levels are found in adults with certain kinds of liver diseases.

1. A flexible tubular fiberoptic instrument used for diagnostic examination of the fetus and interior of the uterus.
2. A stethoscope placed on a pregnant woman's abdomen to listen for the fetal heartbeat.

A medical specialist who uses an optical device, usually flexible and made of fiberoptic materials, used for direct visualization of the fetus in the uterus.

The direct visualizaton of the fetus in the uterus through a fetoscope.

A reference to anything that is poisonous to the fetus.

Elements considered potentially febotoxic include alcohol, morphine, cocaine, salicylates (salt or ester of salicylic acid), coumarin anticoagulants (one of a group of natural and synthetic compounds that antagonize the biosynthesis of vitamin K), sedatives, tetracyclines (group of broad-spectrum antibiotics), thiazides (diuretics primarily in the treatment of hypertension), tobacco smoke, and excessive doses of vitamin K.

Injury to the fetus from a substance that enters the maternal and placental circulation and may cause death or retardation of growth and development.

1. The unborn offspring from the end of the eighth week after conception (when the major structures have formed) until birth.

Up until the eighth week, the developing offspring is called an embryo.

2. The unborn young of a viviparous animal following the embryonic period in the later stages of development when the body structures are in their recognizable forms for their species.

The latter stages of the developing young of an animal within the uterus or within an egg.

3. In humans, the baby in utero after the product of conception from the end of the eighth week to the moment of birth.

Before that time, it is called an embryo.

A fetus-in-fetu is an encapsulated, pedunculated vertebrate tumor.

This is a situation in which one twin fails to develop past the fetal stage and is completely subsumed into the body of the other. Generally, it's fetus in fetu if the fetus develops a reasonable skeleton, but sometimes there are just bits and pieces of fetus bodies that are subsumed into otherwise healthy babies.

Fetus in fetu is a surgico pathological curiosity, wherein a vertebrate fetus is included within the abdomen of its partner. Masses containing bones, cartilage, teeth, central nervous system tissue, fat and muscle may be found in the abdomen of newborns and children termed Teratomas. They are defined as fetus in fetu if there is a recognized trunk and limbs, seemingly an abortive twinning.

Another description states that fetus in fetu (or foetus in foeto) describes an extremely rare abnormality that involves a fetus getting trapped inside its twin. It continues to survive as a parasite even past birth by forming an umbilical cord-like structure that leeches its twin's blood supply until it grows so large that it starts to harm the host, at which point doctors usually intervene.

Invariably the parasitic fetus is anencephalic (without a brain) and lacks internal organs, and as such is unable to survive on its own, though it may have almost human (albeit underdeveloped and bizarre) features such as limbs, digits, hair, nails and teeth.

Fetus in fetu was coined by Johann Friedrich Meckel in the early nineteenth century. It is an extremely rare condition estimated to occur once in 500,000 deliveries.

Pertaining to fetuses and tumors.