Interstitial pregnancy undetected during earlier first-trimester screening for fetal aneuploidy at 13 weeks' gestation.
First-trimester screening for fetal aneuploidy using nuchal translucency (NT), pregnancy-associated plasma protein A, free or total beta-hCG, and maternal age constitutes a very effective screening test for fetal Down syndrome. We describe a case in which a patient presented at 14 weeks' gestation with an acute abdomen 1 week after first-trimester screening (including NT measurement) performed elsewhere, which was negative for trisomies 21 and 18. Sonographic examination revealed an interstitial pregnancy with a singleton fetus with present cardiac activity, which had not been noted 1 week earlier at the time of earlier transabdominal NT measurement. This case indicates that successful acquisition of a NT measurement during first-trimester screening for fetal aneuploidy does not negate the rare possibility of an unusual ectopic pregnancy.
Sherer
David M
DM
Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, 445 Lenox Road, Box 24, Brooklyn, NY 11203-2098, USA.
Dalloul
Mudar
M
Sokolovski
Margarita
M
Borawski
Dorota
D
Granderson
Freda
F
Abulafia
Ovadia
O
D000006:Abdomen, Acute / Q000209:etiology; D000328:Adult; D000782:Aneuploidy; D003951:Diagnostic Errors; D005187:Fallopian Tubes / Q000601:surgery; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D048208:Nuchal Translucency Measurement / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D011271:Pregnancy, Ectopic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000601:surgery; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*