The North American Fetal Therapy Network is a voluntary association of 51 medical centers in both the United States, Canada and Mexico that perform advanced in-utero fetal therapeutic procedures. Physicians at these Fetal Treatment Units practice in both academic and community based environments, and specialize in fields such as maternal-fetal medicine, pediatric surgery, neonatology, pediatric cardiology and fetal ultrasound.
The primary goal of NAFTNet is to provide an umbrella organization to assist the various medical centers that practice fetal medicine, promote cooperation between these centers and foster research in the field of fetal therapy.
Members of NAFTNet are centers with active clinical prenatal diagnosis and treatment programs that involve multidisciplinary teams of maternal-fetal medicine specialists, pediatric surgeons and other surgical specialists, neonatologists, pediatric cardiologists and other pediatric specialists, clinical geneticists, anesthesiologists with expertise in obstetrical anesthesia, fetal imaging specialists and perinatal pathologists.
These centers have established expertise in selective fetal interventions, including open neural tube defects, congenital diaphragmatic hernia, cystic lung lesions, lower urinary tract obstruction and complications of twin monochorionic twin pregnancies (such as twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome).
It is important to note, however, that there are fetal treatment centers in North America that are not members of NAFTNet.