title: Ultrasonic biophysical measurements in the normal human fetus for optimal design of the monolithic fetal pacemaker.
abstract: Ultrasound measurements, including xiphoid-to-pericardial distance and deployment angle, were made on human fetuses as a function of gestational age for the purpose of assessing the likelihood of 3 failure modes of a monolithic fetal pacemaker, including primary positioning failure due to device length and secondary dislodgement failure due to somatic growth. The small variation of the measurements over the gestational age range relevant to device implantation for the major indications of the device (for complete heart block complicated by hydrops and for bradycardia risk after fetal surgery or intrauterine intervention) predicts a small likelihood of these failure modes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, USA.
authors.forename: Evgueni
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Fayn
authors.forename: Howard A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Chou
authors.forename: DaeGyun
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Daniel H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Zavitz
authors.forename: Bettina F
authors.initials: BF
authors.lastname: Cuneo
authors.forename: Vicki L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Mahan
authors.forename: Mehmet
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Guleçyuz
authors.forename: Letitia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Curran
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Lipson
authors.forename: Edmond W
authors.initials: EW
authors.lastname: Quillen
authors.forename: Boris M
authors.initials: BM
authors.lastname: Petrikovsky
authors.forename: Marc
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ovadia
mesh_terms: D004452:Echocardiography / Q000592:standards*; D004867:Equipment Design; D005260:Female; D005333:Fetus / Q000033:anatomy & histology*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006801:Humans; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D011247:Pregnancy; D012016:Reference Values; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000592:standards*