Predictive value of early embryonic cardiac activity for pregnancy outcome.
The biologic variation of the embryonic heart rate was investigated by transvaginal ultrasonography during the first trimester of normal (n = 141) and abnormal (n = 29) pregnancies, and the predictive value of a repeatedly diagnosed slow heart rate for pregnancy outcome was determined. The mean heart rate increased from 82 +/- 10.3 beats/min at 5 weeks' gestation to 156 +/- 9.6 beats/min at 9 weeks. A single observation of an abnormally slow heart rate did not necessarily predict subsequent embryonic death. However, a continued decline in embryonic heart activity, observed within a few days' interval, was always associated with a first-trimester abortion.
Merchiers
E H
EH
Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University Hospital of Ghent, Belgium.
Dhont
M
M
De Sutter
P A
PA
Beghin
C J
CJ
Vandekerckhove
D A
DA
D000022:Abortion, Spontaneous / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First