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Early antenatal diagnosis of spina bifida presenting with a “step” in the posterior contour of an 8‐week embryo
Author(s) -
Lulla Chander,
Hegde Amogh,
Shah Jatin,
Sheth Jayesh
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of clinical ultrasound
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.272
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1097-0096
pISSN - 0091-2751
DOI - 10.1002/jcu.20432
Subject(s) - spina bifida , medicine , gestation , fetus , ultrasound , obstetrics , anatomy , embryo , pregnancy , surgery , radiology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , biology
We report a case of spina bifida in the upper thoracic spine with an accompanying meningocoele suspected at 8 weeks' gestation via transvaginal sonography and confirmed at 13 weeks' gestation via 3‐dimensional sonography. The fetal cranial vault and intracranial structures were normal. The only finding in the 8‐week sonogram was a subtle angulation or “step” in the posterior contour of the embryo; this may be attributed to kyphosis, which often accompanies this condition. The presence of a “step” in the fetal contour must alert the sonologist to the possibility of spina bifida. To our knowledge, this is the earliest antenatal diagnosis of spina bifida. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2008