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Cardiac function in fetuses with intracardiac echogenic foci
Author(s) -
Degani S.,
Leibovitz Z.,
Shapiro I.,
Gonen R.,
Ohel G.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
ultrasound in obstetrics and gynecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.202
H-Index - 141
eISSN - 1469-0705
pISSN - 0960-7692
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-0705.2001.00433.x
Subject(s) - medicine , cardiology , intracardiac injection , ventricle , tricuspid valve , ejection fraction , fetus , atrioventricular valve , cardiac function curve , diastole , fetal echocardiography , cardiac cycle , heart failure , pregnancy , blood pressure , prenatal diagnosis , biology , genetics
Objective To evaluate cardiac dimensions and function in euploid fetuses with intracardiac echogenic foci. Study design Forty‐eight fetuses with a single cardiac echogenic focus situated in the left ventricle had echocardiography performed at 22–24 weeks of gestation. Fifty normal fetuses at 22–24 weeks' gestation served as controls. Two‐dimensional and M‐mode directed fetal echocardiography were used to exclude cardiac anomalies and measure right and left ventricular free walls and interventricular septal thickness and ventricular systolic and diastolic dimensions. Cardiac size was expressed as a ratio of ventricular wall thickness/biparietal diameter, and cardiac function was expressed as ventricular shortening fraction. Doppler fetal echocardiography measurements included pulmonary and aortic maximum systolic velocities and time to peak velocities as indices of ventricular systolic function, and the ratio between early ventricular filling (E‐wave) and active atrial filling (A‐wave) peak velocities at the level of the atrioventricular valves as an index of ventricular diastolic function. Results Early ventricular filling/active atrial filling peak velocity ratios were significantly lower in fetuses with intracardiac echogenic foci than in control fetuses. In the mitral valve the ratio was 0.37 ± 0.14 (0.039) (mean ± SD (95% confidence interval for difference between the means)) vs. 0.59 ± 0.19 (0.052) and in the tricuspid valve it was 0.42 ± 0.16 (0.045) vs. 0.62 ± 0.21 (0.058). No significant differences were found in cardiac dimensions, ventricular shortening fraction and Doppler systolic indices. Conclusion Euploid fetuses with intracardiac echogenic foci show low E/A ratio values in midtrimester echocardiography. This finding might indicate cardiac diastolic dysfunction. Copyright © 2001 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology