title: Fetal echocardiography: the prenatal diagnosis of a ventricular septal defect in a 14-week fetus with pulmonary artery hypoplasia.
abstract: As the result of auscultation of fetal bradycardia in a class C diabetic, real-time and M-mode echocardiography were performed at 14 weeks of gestation. M-mode evaluation revealed fetal bradycardia (70 beats per minute) with atrial and ventricular systole occurring simultaneously, suggesting a nodal rhythm. Real-time examination demonstrated a ventricular septal defect, pericardial effusion, ventricular wall hypertrophy, and a dilated aortic root. Also present were fetal ascites and situs inversus of the stomach. A repeat ultrasound examination revealed fetal death at 16 weeks of gestation. Autopsy confirmed the above structural abnormalities, and also demonstrated bilobed lungs, pulmonary artery and valve hypoplasia, midline small intestine, and asplenia.
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D006332:Cardiomegaly / Q000175:diagnosis; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D006345:Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011262:Pregnancy Trimester, Second; D011254:Pregnancy in Diabetics; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis