Fetal Echocardiography as a Screening Method for Detection of Congenital Heart Disease

Abstract

Background: Congenital heart diseases (CHDs) are among the most common congenital abnormalities. They are frequently missed on routine obstetric ultrasound (US) examination. Although fetal echocardiography is reserved only for high-risk cases, many cases with cardiac abnormalities are born to mothers with no identifiable risk factors. Aim of work: is to assess fetal echocardiography as a screening method for prenatal detection of cardiac abnormalities in an un-selected group of pregnant females. Patients and Methods: During the period of March 2108 to March 2019, 150 fetuses for 149 un-selected pregnant female (there was a set of twin pregnancy) underwent a detailed fetal echocardiographic examination; cases that had maternal, fetal or familial risk factors for CHD were categorized as high risk, others with no known risk factors were low risk. Results: Structural heart defects were found in 6 (4%) fetuses in both high and low risk groups. The prevalence of prenatally detected cardiac abnormalities was 3.5% in the low-risk group and 5.5 % % in the high-risk group. The difference in the incidence of CHD between the two groups was not statistically significant (P=0.4). Conclusion: Our study shows no difference in the incidence of CHDs between pregnancies associated with high risk factors compared to those with no risk factors, so we advocate fetal echocardiography to be included in any fetal anomaly scanning for every pregnant woman regardless the presence of risk factors