title: Early prenatal management of a fetal ventricular tachycardia treated in utero by amiodarone with long term follow-up.
abstract: Fetal cardiac arrhythmias are one of the causes of intra-uterine congestive heart failure and non-immune hydrops fetalis leading to fetal death. As ventricular tachycardia (VT) is rarely diagnosed in utero, it leads to emergency deliveries. We report a prenatal diagnosis of fetal tachycardia at 20 weeks of gestation associated with non-immune hydrops fetalis. The tachycardia seemed to be supraventricular and was initially treated by digoxin and sotalol. The hydrops increased and sotalol was stopped in order to give the mother a high dose of amiodarone by mouth over a long period. Although the tachycardia, which the ECG recorded at birth revealed to be of ventricular origin, persisted but at a lower rate, the new treatment proved successful. The child is three years old now and health, though with persistent VT. In conclusion, fetal tachycardia with similar ventricular and atrial rates can be a VT and the drug of choice in this case seems to be amiodarone.
authors.affiliation: Département de Cardiologie, unité de Cardiologie Pédiatrique, Hôpital Universitaire Pontchaillou, 2 rue Henri le Guilloux, 35033 Rennes, France.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Schleich
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Bernard Du Haut Cilly
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Laurent
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Almange
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000638:Amiodarone / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006340:Heart Rate, Fetal; D006801:Humans; D015160:Hydrops Fetalis / Q000150:complications; D008297:Male; D011247:Pregnancy; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis; D017180:Tachycardia, Ventricular / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy*; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal
chemical_list: D000889:Anti-Arrhythmia Agents; D000638:Amiodarone