Accuracy of prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease with fetal echocardiography.
OBJECTIVE
To study the diagnostic value of fetal echocardiography in detecting congenital heart disease (CHD) during the prenatal period.


METHODS
One hundred and ninety-seven pregnant women with a high risk of prenatal CHD of their fetuses were included in this study. The fetal heart was scanned with echocardiography, performing complete evaluation of the cardiac system. The prenatal echocardiographic findings were correlated with postnatal echocardiography results or autopsy findings, if the pregnancy was terminated or the fetus died in utero.


RESULTS
10 of the 197 fetuses showed CHD by fetal echocardiography, whereas postnatal echocardiography and postmortem examination revealed cardiac abnormalities in 21 patients. Of those, 7 (41.1%) had the most common referral indication, i.e., cardiac abnormality, found on routine ultrasound examination. Specificity and sensitivity of fetal echocardiography for cardiac abnormalities were found to be 98 and 42%, respectively. The positive predictive value of echocardiography was 90% and the negative predictive value 93%.


CONCLUSIONS
We conclude that fetal echocardiography is a reliable tool for prenatal diagnosis in experienced hands. Pediatric cardiologists should be more aware while performing fetal echocardiography in patients referred by obstetricians for CHD.
Bakiler
Ali Rahmi
AR
Clinics of Pediatrics, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey.
Ozer
Esra Arun
EA
Kanik
Ali
A
Kanit
Hakan
H
Aktas
Fatma Nur
FN
D015150:Echocardiography, Doppler; D005260:Female; D005315:Fetal Diseases / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005865:Gestational Age; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000196:embryology; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000379:methods*