Prenatal and Postnatal Echocardiography in Euploid Fetuses with Increased Nuchal Translucency

Using targeted fetal echocardiography in the middle of the pregnancy period can detect most of the major cardiac defects and large vessels. The present study aims to evaluate the echocardiography for both before and after birth in fetuses with elevated NT and normal karyotype. This Retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the chromosome implication of the euploid fetuses with elevated NT. The present study included live fetuses at the gestational age of 11-14 weeks and NT > 95 percentile (or more than 3 mm). All of the euploid fetuses with increased NT anomaly were followed using a follow-up scan at the 18-22th pregnancy week and fetal echocardiography at the 16-19th pregnancy week. Physical examinations and postnatal echocardiography were performed to confirm the diagnosis of congenital heart disease in live births. In 73.68% of the fetuses, the congenital heart defect was diagnosed before birth and that confirmed after birth too. The strongest correlation was observed between elevated NT and prenatal diagnosis of a congenital heart defect in the thickness of 3.4 - 5.2 mm. The highest percentage of correct diagnosis of fetal congenital heart defect occurred in mothers with a BMI of more than 24.99 and age of 19 to 25 years old. The rate of increased NT went up in younger mothers and also who had a lower BMI. A variety of congenital heart defects associated with increased NT in the first trimester of pregnancy. The possibility of a correct diagnosis of fetal heart abnormalities decreased with the increase of BMI. The likelihood of a correct diagnosis of fetal heart abnormalities increased in younger mother. It is possible to evaluate the likelihood of fetal heart defects by measuring NT in the 11 to 13 pregnancy week and considering basic risk factors.

کلیدواژه ها:

Fetal heart abnormality ،