Ebook: ADHD and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD)

Nova Science Publishers, Inc. 2007. — 292 p.This multi-author book will discuss the history and clinical presentation of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) i.e. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) and Alcohol Related Neurodevelopmental Disorder (ARND). These developmental neuropsychiatric disorders result from prenatal exposure to alcohol during any gestational period of pregnancy. The book will particularly address the co-occurring presence of ADHD in patients with FASD. ADHD is the most frequent neuropsychiatric presentation of FASD throughout the lifespan and it is particularly difficult to manage because the underlying pathophysiology is related to prenatal neurotoxic brain injury. Although prenatal alcohol exposure, and the resulting FASD, is recognized as the commonest preventable cause of intellectual disability, many clinicians and educators are not aware that 75 to 80% of the patients with FASD have I.Q.s over 70. Thus, the neuropsychiatric presentation of FASD can often be unrecognized or misunderstood. FASD are the true clinical masqueraders' and ADHD is their most likely disguise!