Great success for the conference held on 14 June and the meeting of the international research group “Truffle -2” which took stock of the state of the art and the most innovative research projects in the field held on 15 June
A niche medical-scientific topic, but of great importance for future mothers, was the protagonist of one two days of research conference which placed Trieste at the center of the world thanks to the conference New insights on fetal growth restriction, organized by Professor Tamara Sampalija of the Irccs Materno Infantile “Burlo Garofolo” and by Professor Christoph Lees of Imperial College London and to meeting of the international research group Truffle-2 entirely supported by funds from the Burlo Scientific Directorate.
The issue of fetal growth restriction it concerns a relatively small portion of women giving birth and their unborn children, but it is nevertheless an aspect that must be adequately investigated because it can have very significant consequences. Specifically lFetal growth restriction occurs when a fetus does not reach its genetic growth potential for any reason which may be of genetic or placental origingiven by a twin pregnancy sharing the same placenta, or by the mother’s use of smoking or alcohol.
They signed up for the conference over 200 scholars, doctors and researchers arriving, as well as from all over Italy, from Austria, Croatia and Slovenia, as well as from Australia, Germany, Great Britain, India, Lebanon, the United States of America and other countries who discussed the studies, techniques and latest technologies.
The meeting of the international research group Truffle-2 which is made up of 53 European medical-scientific centers working together on various research projects in the field of fetal growth restriction was also well attended.
“I’m very happy,” she said Professor Tamara Stampalija – for having brought such an important international niche event to Trieste, to demonstrate the role that the Irccs Burlo Garofolo has in the field of fetal medicine also at an international level. The research and proposal of new diagnostic-therapeutic approaches represents a glimmer of hope for mothers/couples who find themselves facing a difficult situation such as the failure of their child to grow in utero. I would like to take this opportunity to thank in particular the scientific director, Professor Massimo Zeviani and the Scientific Management for the support given in the organization of this event”.
For his part, the Professor Massimo Zeviani, scientific director of Burlo underlined how: «The conference just concluded is testimony to the importance of the work carried out for years by Burlo, in particular by Professor Stampalija and by the entire team led by Professor Ricci – because the lack of or reduced fetal growth, whether due to maternal causes , whether due to fetal causes, is an important problem which can then have negative consequences in the development of post-natal life. Today, however, it can be diagnosed early through imaging techniques, particularly of the ultrasound type, but not only (which are present at Burlo and which are also substantially funded by the Scientific Directorate for their intrinsic research value) and possibly corrected. Even real fetal pathologies – continued Zeviani – can be, in some cases, treated either directly in utero (as has already been done at Burlo, for example, with transfusions), or immediately after birth as, for example, in the case of congenital malformations. We are therefore extremely satisfied – concluded the scientific director of Irccs – with the success achieved by the conference and the subsequent meeting of the international research group”.
