title: Fetal echocardiography at 11-13 weeks by transabdominal high-frequency ultrasound.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To assess the accuracy of fetal echocardiography at 11-13 weeks performed by well-trained obstetricians using a high-frequency linear ultrasound transducer.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fetal echocardiography was performed by obstetricians immediately before chorionic villus sampling for fetal karyotyping at 11-13 weeks. Digital videoclips of the examination stored by the obstetrician were reviewed offline by a specialist fetal cardiologist.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The obstetrician suspected 95 (95%) of the 100 cardiac defects identified by the fetal cardiologist and made the correct diagnosis in 84 (84%) of these cases. In 54 fetuses, the defect was classified as major and in 46 it was minor. In 767 (86.6%) cases, the heart was normal and in 19 (2.1%) the views were inadequate for assessment of normality or abnormality. A subsequent second-trimester scan in the normal group identified major cardiac defects in four cases. Therefore, the first-trimester scan by the obstetricians and cardiologists identified 54 (93.1%) of the 58 major cardiac defects.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A well-trained obstetrician using high-resolution ultrasound equipment can assess the fetal heart at 11-13 weeks with a high degree of accuracy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Fetal Medicine, King's College Hospital, London, UK.
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Persico
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Moratalla
authors.forename: C M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Lombardi
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Zidere
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Allan
authors.forename: K H
authors.initials: KH
authors.lastname: Nicolaides
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002309:Cardiology; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D018568:Crown-Rump Length; D004452:Echocardiography / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000196:embryology; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D048208:Nuchal Translucency Measurement / Q000379:methods; D009774:Obstetrics; D011247:Pregnancy; D011261:Pregnancy Trimester, First; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000379:methods*; D055815:Young Adult