Focus on cystic fibrosis and other disorders evidenced in fetuses with sonographic finding of echogenic bowel: 16-year report from Brittany, France

Abstract

Pregnancies medical follow-up and ultrasonography development have enabled detection of fetal echogenic bowel, a sign associated with various pathologies, including cystic fibrosis. Based on the long experience of a region where cystic fibrosis is frequent (Brittany, France), we describe disorders diagnosed in fetal echogenic bowel fetuses and assess ultrasonography ability in detecting cystic fibrosis in utero. We reviewed the cases of fetal echogenic bowel diagnosed in pregnant women living in Brittany and referred for CFTR gene analysis over the 1992-2007 period (n = 289). A disorder was diagnosed in 32.2% of the fetuses, cystic fibrosis being the most commonly identified (7.6%). We also found digestive malformations (7.0%), chromosomal abnormalities (3.7%), and maternofetal infections (3.7%). Combining these data with our ongoing newborn screening program since 1989 showed that ultrasonography enabled diagnosis of 10.7% of the cystic fibrosis cases. This study highlights the importance of pregnancy ultrasound examinations and their efficiency in detecting cystic fibrosis.