io h o

being is at the heart of any medical treatment, placental transfer of drugs leading to potential toxicity to the fetus is a major pharmacokinetics including the volume of distribution, the rate of metabolism and excretion by the placenta, the pH dif-ARTICLE IN PRESS Placenta (2005), jj, jjjejjj doi:10.1016/j.placenta.2005.09.001concern in the pharmacological management of the pregnant patient. Hence, when managing a pregnant patient with medi-cation, the treatment of 2 individual patients, mother and fetus should be considered independently, and the decision must be based on the risk/benefit assessment of both. While the use of prescription drugs has sometimes increased fetal risk of terato-genicity, some medical conditions such as gestational diabetes, hyperthyroidism or hypertension may require drug therapy in order to ensure optimal health of the mother and fetus