The Usefulness of Fetal Echocardiography as a Screening Test.

Cho, J S; Yoo, Y K; Choi, H M; Lee, Y H; Park, Y W

Original Article

Korean Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology 1998;41(7):1968-1971.
Published online January 1, 2001.

The Usefulness of Fetal Echocardiography as a Screening Test.

J S Cho, Y K Yoo, H M Choi, Y H Lee, Y W Park

Abstract

It is important to recognize congenital heart disease (CHD) prenatally, because CHD is the most common congenital major anomaly in neonates that contributes to significant perinatal morbidity and mortality. Previous studies have demonstrated the usefulness of the four-chamber view (4-CV) for the prenatal detection of cardiac anomalies. Our purpose was to determine whether the addition of long axis view (LAV) and short axis view (SAV) would detect more congenital cardiac anomalies. This study included 5,598 pregnant women who were obtained all 4-CV, LAV and SAV, and delivered in Severance hospital from Jan 1991 through Dec 1996. The diagnostic accuracy of each view was evaluated. Information of outcome was obtained from physical examinations, postnatal echocardiography and/or autopsies. The 4-CV detected 28 (51.9%) of the 54 fetuses with abnormal heart. Adding the LAV increased the sensitivity to 64.8% and adding the SAV increased the sensitivity to 57.4%. Adding the LAV and SAV increased the sensitivity to 64.8% and was same as adding only LAV. In conclusion, adding the only LAV to the standard 4-CV will result in the more prenatal detection of cardiac anomalies.

Key Words: Fetal echocardiography, Long axis view