Fetal sonographic findings: analysis of the most frequent patterns and their specificity of association.
A major goal of obstetric sonography is the detection of patterns of anomalies in order to make a diagnosis, or to determine which pregnant women should be offered invasive testing. Previous studies have analyzed patterns from the perspective of a specific anomaly and its associations, e.g., increased nuchal translucency measurement and structural heart disease. In this study we applied the technique of cluster analysis to a population data set that consisted of fetuses with at least two sonographically detectable anomalies. The specificity of association of the most frequent patterns found in our population was evaluated by means of the ratio of the observed number of fetuses with the findings (O) over the expected number of such fetuses (E). The observation that different patterns aggregate in a relatively small number of clusters was then evaluated by means of cluster analysis for binary data. Results show that several patterns can be considered in nonrandom associations, based on the O/E ratio. Most of these patterns are well known to clinicians but validate this new approach. As cluster analysis is applied to antenatal sonographic data sets, new patterns of associations of anomalies may be detected.
Farina
A
A
Division of Genetics, Department of Pediatrics,New England Medical Center, Boston, Massachusetts 02111, USA.
Malone
F D
FD
Bianchi
D W
DW
D016000:Cluster Analysis; D000013:Congenital Abnormalities / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000002:abnormalities*; D006801:Humans; D011247:Pregnancy; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal