The feasibility of fetal echocardiography in the prediction of congenital heart disease.
The fetal heart has been studied echocardiographically in over 750 pregnancies between 16 weeks gestation and term. This has allowed description of normal fetal cardiac anatomy, the acquisition of measurement data for various cardiac structures and the detection of 16 cardiac malformations. In all the patients delivered so far and in which normality was predicted the neonatal heart was confirmed to be normal (640) except in 3 early cases where defects were overlooked. This promises to be a useful technique for the reliable prediction of structural cardiac anomaly prenatally.
D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005188:False Negative Reactions; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*