Time to reconsider our approach to echogenic intracardiac focus and choroid plexus cysts.
Ultrasound soft markers are commonly reported at mid-trimester ultrasounds. Soft markers frequently arouse anxiety in the patient, her family, and the referring clinician. Recent publications have raised concerns that this anxiety may be unfounded. The significance of an echogenic intracardiac focus or choroid plexus cyst in particular is no longer certain. It may be time to discard these two markers; especially if they are reported in isolation and in a patient who is otherwise at low risk for aneuploidy.
Bethune
Michael
M
Ultrasound Department, The Royal Women's Hospital, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. bethunes@gmail.com
D000782:Aneuploidy; D002831:Choroid Plexus / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000196:embryology; D004452:Echocardiography; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006321:Heart / Q000196:embryology*; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011247:Pregnancy; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal