Foetal echocardiography

Area of Science:

• Paediatric Cardiology
• Prenatal Diagnostics
• Congenital Heart Anomalies

Background:

• Modern paediatric cardiology utilizes foetal echocardiography for in utero diagnosis of congenital heart anomalies.
• Early diagnosis allows for timely therapeutic interventions, potentially improving outcomes for affected newborns.
• Congenital heart malformations represent a significant concern in paediatric healthcare.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the percentage of prenatal diagnoses for congenital heart anomalies.
• To assess the effectiveness of ultrasound in detecting these conditions prenatally.
• To identify areas for improvement in the early detection of foetal cardiac defects.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 73 paediatric patients diagnosed with heart malformations between January 2000 and December 2004.
• Data collected from the Paediatric clinic of Clinical Centre of Sarajevo.
• Review of diagnostic methods, focusing on prenatal ultrasound findings.

Main Results:

• A total of 73 patients were included, with 14 preterm newborns and 40 boys.
• Cardiac anomalies included left-to-right shunt (56.1%), obstructive (13.7%), cyanotic (1.36%), and complex (28.7%).
• Only 4 patients (5.5%) had a prenatal diagnosis via ultrasound, significantly lower than European benchmarks.

Conclusions:

• The study highlights a low rate of prenatal diagnosis for congenital heart anomalies.
• There is a critical need to enhance early prenatal detection methods for foetal heart defects.
• Improved prenatal diagnosis can facilitate in utero treatment, reduce anomaly incidence, and lower healthcare costs.