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Ultrasonographic scanning of placental thickness and the prenatal diagnosis of homozygous alpha‐thalassaemia 1 in the second trimester
Author(s) -
Ko TsangMing,
Tseng LiHui,
Hsu PiMei,
Hwa HsiaoLin,
Lee TzuYao,
Chuang SouMing
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
prenatal diagnosis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.956
H-Index - 97
eISSN - 1097-0223
pISSN - 0197-3851
DOI - 10.1002/pd.1970150103
Subject(s) - hydrops fetalis , medicine , obstetrics , gestational age , fetus , ultrasound , gestation , prenatal diagnosis , pregnancy , second trimester , gynecology , radiology , biology , genetics
In order to evaluate the association between placental thickness (PT) and fetal homozygous alpha‐thalassaemia 1 before the appearance of classic ultrasound findings of haemoglobin (Hb) Bart's hydrops fetalis, a total of 473 pregnancies were collected. The control group included 422 normal pregnancies with a gestational age from 14 to 23 weeks and the study group included 51 affected fetuses in the same gestational period. Fetal biparietal diameter (BPD) and PT were measured by high‐resolution ultrasound. PT was evaluated against BPD. In the control group, the PT generally increased in parallel with the advancement of gestational age. All PT measurements in the study group were above the mean PT of their respective gestational week in the control group. Forty‐six (90 per cent) of the pregnancies in the study group had PT larger than the mean plus two standard deviations of the control group. This study suggests that ultrasound measurement of PT may be a useful aid in the prenatal diagnosis of Hb Bart's hydrops fetalis before its classic findings become apparent in the late second trimester or third trimester.