Sonographic spectrum of fetal cardiac hypoplasia.

Abstract

Four cases of hypoplastic left ventricle and three cases of hypoplastic right ventricle detected sonographically prenatally are presented. A four-chamber view of the heart was abnormal in all seven cases. The sonographic appearance of the hypoplastic ventricle was variable, being smaller than normal in six of seven cases and not being identified at all in one case. Other ultrasound findings included an atrial septal defect (11 = 7); increased size of the contralateral ventricle (n = 6); nonvisualization or poor visualization of the outflow tract of the affected ventricle (11 -6), and intact ventricular septum (11 == S). In one of four cases of hypoplastic left ventricle the pregnancy was terminated; the other three infants died within 5 days after birth. One H eart disease is the most common severe congenital anomaly found in live births and is a major cause of death from congenital anomalies in childhood.1 It has been estimated that structural abnormalities of the heart and the great vessels are among the most common fetal malformations, occur~ ring more frequently than in 8 of 1,000 live births.' Unfortunately, a number of cardiac malformations produce serious morbidity and high mortality rates within the first month of life but may not be recognized prenatally. For example, hypoplastic left heart syn· drome usually results in death within 4 weeks after birth. Right ventricular outflow tract abnormalities, such as pulmonary atresia with an intact septum re-

Prenatal detection of severe right ventricular outflow tract obstruction: pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary atresia.

“…s present to a variable degree in five of the six fetuses with a patent pulmonary valve. Right atrial enlargement in the presence of an incompetent tricuspid valve 16,17 and significant right ventricular hypoplasial6, 19 have been reported previously as features of antenatally diagnosed pulmonary atresia. We found similar features in fetuses with pulmonary stenosis.…”

The application of fetal magnetocardiography (FMCG) to investigate fetal arrhythmias and congenital heart defects (CHD)

“…In the majority of cases it is associated with pulmonary atresia in the presence of an intact ventricular septum but cases with a functional ventricular septum defect (VSD) have been described (McGahen et al, 1991;Carrasquero et al, 1999). The fetus in Case 5 revealed a slight hypoplasia of the right ventricle, with values below the 5th percentile according to Allan et al (1982), combined with a small right ventricular out¯ow tract.…”

Prenatal Diagnosis of Isolated Tricuspid Valve Atresia

“…Prenatal diagnosis means that infants who are to undergo surgery are in optimal condition for such interventions. Although prenatal diagnosis of tricuspid atresia has been published several times, [2][3][4][5][6][7] only a few reports have emphasized the prenatal sonographic features of this condition. The objective of this small series was to describe the prenatal features of tricuspid atresia.…”