Screening of Fetal Heart for the Congenital Heart Diseases

Abstract

Screening of the congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most important techniques in prenatal ultrasonographic examination.Step by step screening methods for taking account for the level of screener, especially in the area with poor detection rate, is needed for starting effective fetal CHD screening. In this review, the fetal cardiac screening is divided into two methods accounting for steps for learning screening technique; the basic screening and the advanced screening. Basic screening is a simple method even for the one who is not familiar to the cardiac anatomy. The goal of this basic screening is to detect most of the ductal dependent lesions including transposition of the great arteries. For the basic screening, 'location' and 'size' of the heart and vessels are checked in standard fourchamber view and three-vessel view. Advanced screening is a screening for detecting all fetal CHDs, including total anomalous pulmonary venous return. For the advanced screening, the side of the heart is defined, and then the 'detail anatomy' and the 'function and blood flow' are assessed in all standard screening views, including one fetal abdominal transverse view and three fetal chest transverse views, such as four-chamber, three-vessel and three-vessel and trachea view.