It Is Complex: Predicting Gastroschisis Outcomes Using Prenatal Imaging

Ultrasound Markers for Complex Gastroschisis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

“…Of these, 18 were selected for full reading. A total of 13 articles met the inclusion criteria [1, 3,6,8,9,[18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25]. The study selection flowchart is shown in Figure 1.…”

“…Thirteen cohort and case-control studies carried out in different countries and with moderate to low risk of bias, were included. The ultrasound markers that showed to be statistically significant in predicting complex GS were IABD [6,9,[18][19][20][21]23,25], EABD [3,9,19,24], and polyhydramnios [8,19].…”

“…A total of 12 cohort studies and a case-control study were assessed using the GRADE quality assessment tool (Table 1) and risk of bias by the Cochrane tool for non-randomized studies (Figure 2). The GRADE score indicated that five studies showed low quality of evidence [1, 3,8,22,24] and eight studies with moderate quality of evidence [6,9,[18][19][20][21]23,25]. The results of the risk of bias assessment of the included studies are shown in Figure 2.…”

“…Four studies reported that the presence of EABD proved to be statistically significant in predicting complex GS [3,9,19,24]. Two studies indicated that the presence of polyhydramnios was shown to be statistically significant in predicting complex GS [8,19]. Two studies reported that US markers could not reliably distinguish between simple GS and complex GS [1,22].…”

“…Although GS is often diagnosed from prenatal ultrasound (US) [8], attempts have been made to correlate US findings with neonatal outcomes in pregnancies with fetal GS [4,9]. However, there is still a gap in the literature about which markers of prenatal US can differentiate complex GS and predict adverse results [10].…”