title: Prenatal diagnosis of gastrointestinal obstruction: a correlation between prenatal ultrasonic findings and postnatal operative findings.
abstract: The impact of prenatal sonographic diagnosis of oesophageal and gastrointestinal obstructions has been analysed over a 10-year period. Three groups of patients were evaluated. The first group consisted of 46 newborns with abnormal prenatal sonograms, 41 of which were confirmed to have intestinal obstruction postnatally. The second group consisted of 17 neonates with normal prenatal sonograms who had intestinal obstruction postnatally. The third group included 56 newborns who did not undergo a prenatal sonogram but who had intestinal obstruction confirmed at surgery. Polyhydramnios without the appearance of a stomach on ultrasound was diagnostic of pure oesophageal atresia. Polyhydramnios with intestinal dilation was diagnostic of intestinal obstruction. Although surgery was performed earlier in the infants diagnosed prenatally with ultrasound, mortality was no less than in the group that did not undergo a prenatal sonogram, probably because of the high incidence of associated anomalies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatric Surgery, Istituti Clinici di Perfezionamento, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Dell'Agnola
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Tomaselli
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Teruzzi
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Tadini
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Coran
mesh_terms: D004935:Esophageal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D017219:Gastric Outlet Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D007415:Intestinal Obstruction / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D011247:Pregnancy; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal