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Cardiac defects in chromosomally normal fetuses with abnormal ductus venosus blood flow at 10-14 weeks
A Matias1, I Huggon, J C Areias
1Harris Birthright Research Centre for Fetal Medicine, King's College Hospital Medical School, London, UK.
Objective:
To assess a possible relationship between ductus venosus blood flow abnormalities and cardiac defects in chromosomally normal fetuses with increased nuchal translucency thickness at 10-14 weeks of gestation.
Methods:
Ductus venosus Doppler ultrasound blood flow velocity waveforms were obtained at 10-14 weeks' gestation immediately before fetal karyotyping in 200 consecutive singleton pregnancies with increased nuchal translucency. Fetal echocardiography was subsequently carried out in those with normal fetal karyotype.
Results:
Reverse or absent flow during atrial contraction was observed in 11 of the 142 chromosomally normal fetuses with increased nuchal translucency. Major defects of the heart and/or great arteries were present in seven of the 11 with abnormal ductal flow and increased nuchal translucency, but in none of the 131 with normal flow.
Conclusion:
These preliminary results suggest that abnormal ductus venosus blood flow in chromosomally normal fetuses with increased nuchal translucency identifies those with an underlying major cardiac defect.