Fetal ultrasound examinations have become part of the routine prenatal care in many countries. In most cases of fetal anomalies the prognosis is clear. However, there are cases in which the prognosis is difficult to determine. Reliable parental counseling in such cases is therefore difficult and hampered by lack of knowledge. A novel approach suggested by Israeli researchers Moshe Bronshtein, Etan Zimmer and Shraga Blazer from the Rambam Medical Center and the Bruce Rappaport Faculty of Medicine of the Technion in Haifa may be of help in many of these cases. In their recent study - published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) - the authors considered the possibility that asymptomatic parents of such fetuses might have a similar anomaly without being even aware of it. The authors offered imaging procedures such as ultrasound and CT-scans to the healthy parents, assuming that finding the same anomaly in a healthy parent might be of help in their difficult decision making process. In their study, the authors describe 32 families in which this approach was applied. In 8 cases a similar anomaly was found in both the fetus and in one of the healthy parents. The outcome for the fetus in all these cases was favorable. The researchers thus concluded that examination of the asymptomatic parents in cases of a fetal anomaly with an unclear prognosis may provide an added and previously-untapped source of valuable information to parents - information that will preclude the need for further and potentially unwarranted interventions in pregnancy.