Echocardiography, Three-Dimensional ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; therapy ; Humans

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical significance of 3-vessel subsequence view in prenatal screening and diagnosis of fetal congenital heart disease. METHODS: The 3-vessel subsequence view of 231 fetuses with congenital heart disease was obtained with Sequoia 512, Voluson 730 and E8 color Doppler ultrasonographic diagnostic system. RESULTS: Of the 231 consecutive fetuses with congenital heart defects (CHD), 169 (73%) had at least 1 abnormality on the 3-vessel subsequence view. When ventricl septal defects and so on were excluded, the detection rate increased to 91%. Some defects had several abnormalities visualized at the 3-vessel subsequence view. CONCLUSION The 3-vessel subsequence view has high detection rate in identifying the presence of CHD.
Female ; Fetal Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; Fetus ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal

Objective: To explore the current situation of fetal heart defects in Yunnan Province and surrounding high altitude areas and the social factors affecting pregnancy outcome. Methods: This is a retrospective study. Pregnant woman who underwent fetal echocardiography and diagnosed as fetal cardiac defects in Yunnan Fuwai Cardiovascular Hospital from June 2017 to January 2021 were included. According to the clinical prognostic risk scoring system and grading criteria of fetal cardiac birth defects, the cases were divided into grade Ⅰ to Ⅳ. The disease distribution and proportion of each prognostic grade, pregnancy outcomes were analyzed and compared. The cases were divided into continued pregnancy group and terminated pregnancy group according to pregnancy outcome. The social factors that may affect the selection of pregnancy outcomes were analyzed by multivariate logistic regression analysis. Results: A total of 4 929 fetal echocardiography examination data were collected, and 4 464 cases (90.57%) were from Yunnan Province and surrounding high altitude areas. 2 166 cases of heart defects were finally analyzed, including 998 cases of congenital heart disease (CHD), 93 cases of cardiac tumors, cardiomyopathy and arrhythmia, 1 075 cases of foramen ovale, ductus arteriosus abnormalities and normal variations. The pregnant women were (29.2±5.0) years old with (25.6±3.8) gestational weeks. The number of cases with prognostic grade from Ⅰ to Ⅳ was 1 037 (47.88%), 620 (28.62%), 314 (14.50%), and 44 (2.03%), respectively. And 151 cases (6.97%) were not classified. The cases of normal variation and thin aortic arch development accounted for 42.66% (924/2 166), 5.22% (113/2 166), respectively. The top 3 diseases of grade Ⅱ were ventricular septal defect, coarctation of aorta and mild-moderate pulmonary stenosis, respectively, and their distribution was 11.63% (252/2 166), 3.92% (85/2 166) and 2.35% (51/2 166) respectively in all cases of heart defects, and 25.25% (252/998), 8.52% (85/998) and 5.11% (51/998) respectively in cases of CHD. Among the cases rated as grade Ⅲ and Ⅳ, most of them were complicated congenital heart disease, and the disease types are scattered. The more common cases in grade Ⅲ were complete transposition of great arteries (accounting for 2.40% (52/2 166) of all cases with heart defects, 5.21% (52/998) of all cases with CHD) and pulmonary artery occlusion (type Ⅰ to Ⅲ) with ventricular septal defect (accounting for 2.17% (47/2 166) of all cases with heart defects, and 4.71% (47/998) of all cases with CHD). In grade Ⅳ, single ventricle (0.74% (16/2 166) of all cases with heart defects, 1.60% (16/998) of all cases with CHD) and left ventricular dysplasia syndrome (0.65% (14/2 166) of all cases with heart defects, 1.40% (14/998) of all cases with CHD) are more common. A total of 1 084 cases were successfully followed up, and 675 cases were born, 392 cases were terminated, spontaneous abortion occurred in 17 cases. The proportion of terminated pregnancy cases was significantly increased from grade Ⅰ to Ⅳ, accounting for 5.24% (21/401), 27.78% (70/252), 89.54% (214/239) and 95.56% (43/45), respectively. Among the terminated pregnancy cases, those with grade Ⅲ accounted for the highest proportion (54.59% (214/392)). The distribution of terminated pregnancy cases was mainly complex congenital malformations or diseases with very poor prognosis (pregnancy outcome grade Ⅲ and Ⅳ), and proportion of terminated pregnancy with pregnancy outcome grade Ⅰ and Ⅱ cases (normal variation or good prognosis) accounted for 5.36% (21/392) and 17.86% (70/392), respectively. The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that pregnant women with low education (high school and below: OR=2.73, 95%CI 1.26-5.93, P<0.001; illiteracy: OR=3.27, 95%CI 1.29-7.10, P<0.001) and low family income (Annual income<100 000 yuan: OR=2.47, 95%CI 1.69-5.12, P<0.001) were more likely to choose termination of pregnancy in case of fetal heart defect. Conclusion: In Yunnan province and the surrounding high altitude areas, the disease distribution of fetal heart defect is mainly simple or low-risk disease, but the complex malformation, especially the disease with poor pregnancy outcome, accounts for a relative high proportion. Pregnancy termination also occurs in some cases with good pregnancy outcome. The education level and family income of pregnant women may affect their choice of pregnancy outcome in case of fetal heart defect.
Pregnancy ; Female ; Humans ; Young Adult ; Adult ; Retrospective Studies ; Altitude ; China/epidemiology* ; Heart Defects, Congenital/diagnostic imaging* ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; Echocardiography ; Fetal Heart/diagnostic imaging*

Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Organ Size ; Radiography, Thoracic ; Syndrome

BACKGROUNDFoetal echocardiography has become a diagnostic method to detect foetal congenital heart disease with high probability. However, it is not only time consuming and but also difficult to visualize outflow tract of foetus early in the second trimester of pregnancy, even for an experienced obstetric ultrasonographer. Recently, many methods for screening foetal cardiac anomalies were explored, but much more work is needed to develop an effective and suitable screening method. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical significance of utilising the ductus venosus (DV) Doppler examination and the four-chamber view of heart to screen for foetal cardiac malformation in early second trimester of pregnancy.

METHODSHeart and DV of 401 consecutive foetuses in early second trimester (12(+1) - 17(+6) weeks) in high risk pregnancies were examined with Acuson 128 xp/10 or Sequoia 512 ultrasound diagnostic systems. Absent or reversed flow during atrial contraction (A-wave) in the DV was defined as sufficiently abnormal to screen for foetal cardiac malformations. The foetal echocardiographic diagnosis was confirmed by postnatal echocardiography (or postmortem). The sensitivities of screening tests were compared among the three methods: DV Doppler examination, four-chamber view alone, and the combination of both techniques.

RESULTSSatisfactory examinations were obtained in 383/401 foetuses (95%). Thirty foetuses with cardiac abnormalities were confirmed by neonatal echocardiography (or postmortem). The sensitivity of DV Doppler examination or four-chamber view alone is 63% (19/30) and 60% (18/30), respectively. The sensitivity of combining information, DV Doppler flow waveform and four-chamber view, to screen for foetal cardiac malformation is 83% (25/30) and significantly better than that of either DV Doppler flow waveform or four chamber view alone (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSIONDoppler flow waveform of DV can be used to screen for foetal cardiac malformation early in the second trimester. Combining information from Doppler flow waveform of DV and four-chamber view will improve the overall sensitivity of the screening.

Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Pregnancy Trimester, Second ; Ultrasonography, Doppler ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal

Heart Defects, Congenital/diagnosis* ; Humans ; Hypertension ; MicroRNAs/genetics* ; Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension ; Pulmonary Artery/diagnostic imaging*

Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; diagnostic imaging ; Bradycardia ; diagnostic imaging ; Echocardiography, Doppler, Color ; Female ; Fetal Diseases ; diagnostic imaging ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; embryology ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Retrospective Studies

Diverticulum ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnosis ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed

BACKGROUNDCongenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common congenital disorder at birth. Yagel and colleagues's method of heart examination has been proved valuable in finding CHD prenatally in single pregnancies. The aim of this study was to analyze the frequency of CHD in twin pregnancies and the sensitivity of the method.

METHODSA total of 1103 pregnant women with twins were enrolled in this study, including 127 cases with high-risk for CHD. Five transverse ultrasound measurements were used for fetal heart examination, including the upper abdomen view, four-chamber view, five-chamber view, pulmonary artery bifurcation view, and three-vessel view. In the fetuses who were diagnosed with CHD and whose parents requested termination of the pregnancy, autopsy of the fetal heart was performed after an abortion, and a blood sample was collected from the heart for chromosome evaluation. In the other fetuses, a close follow-up was conducted by echocardiography within one year after birth.

RESULTSAntenatally, CHD was found in 12 twins, of which 4 were from the high-risk group (3.15%), and 8 from the low-risk group (0.82%). In 2 pairs of the twins, the two fetuses had a same kind of CHD (one pair had tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), another pair had rhabdomyoma). Another pair had different types of anomaly (one fetus had TOF, and the other duodenal atresia with a normal heart). Termination of pregnancy was performed in these three pairs and the autopsy of the fetal heart confirmed the ultrasound findings. In the other 9 pairs, CHD was detected in one fetus, and a normal heart in the others. In the cases who received chromosome evaluation, 2 had abnormal chromosomes. During the follow-up after birth, heart examinations confirmed the prenatal diagnosis in 7 of the 9. The diagnosis of CHD was missed antenatally in 2 pairs of twins. In both the cases, one fetus was normal, and the other was confirmed as having CHD after birth (small ventricle septum defect in one, and persistent open ductus arteriosus in the other). Thus, the total frequency of CHD was 16 (7.3/1000), which was similar to that in single pregnancies. The sensitivity of fetal echocardiography was 87.5% and the specificity was 100%.

CONCLUSIONSThe frequency of CHD is the same in twin as in single pregnancies. Systemic ultrasound scanning with five transverse views is effective in diagnosing fetal CHD in twin pregnancies.

Adult ; Chromosome Aberrations ; Diseases in Twins ; diagnostic imaging ; Echocardiography ; methods ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Pregnancy ; Ultrasonography, Prenatal ; methods

OBJECTIVETo describe the morphological features of congenital heart defects and their spatial orientations to the neighboring structures in special two-dimensional echocardiographic views.

METHODSConventional two-dimensional echocardiographic sections were obtained in 45 patients with atrial septal defect (ASD) and 15 with ventricular septal defect (VSD) before the en face imaging, a special echocardiographic view, was performed using a transthoracic probe for morphological characterization of the ASD and VSD. En face views of the secundum ASD and perimembranous and outflow tract or doubly committed subarterial VSD were imaged on the interatrial septal section and inflow and outflow interventricular septal section at parasternal or apical position, respectively.

RESULTSThe special echocardiographic section provided en face plane views of the congenital heart defects in 35/43 (81%) of secundum ASD and 10/15 (67%) of VSD patients, and allowed full assessment of their size, shape, circumference and spatial orientations to the neighboring structures, showing also the relationship between two or multiple defects.

CONCLUSIONThe special transthoracic two-dimensional echocardiography not only displays the morphological features of ASD and VSD, but also provides additional information for making clinical decisions.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Child ; Child, Preschool ; Echocardiography ; methods ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; diagnostic imaging ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial ; diagnostic imaging ; Heart Septal Defects, Ventricular ; diagnostic imaging ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Young Adult