Prenatal diagnosis of common arterial trunk: a single-center's experience

To report our experience in fetuses prenatally diagnosed with common arterial trunk (CAT) and to evaluate the postnatal outcomes.

This was a retrospective study conducted at Asan Medical Center, Seoul, Korea, between 2003 and 2012. Maternal medical and fetal echocardiographic records regarding fetuses were prenatally diagnosed with CAT were reviewed. Postnatal outcomes of survivors were also assessed during the mean follow-up of 36 months.

Of the 17 fetuses that were prenatally diagnosed with CAT and had a final diagnosis by postnatal echocardiography or autopsy, 12 were confirmed to have CAT and 5 were incorrectly diagnosed with CAT. Of the latter, 3 had pulmonary atresia and 2 had aortic atresia. The diagnostic accuracy was 71%. The median gestational age at prenatal diagnosis of confirmed CAT was 24.4 weeks (range 21.1-34.3). The truncal valve was prenatally thickened in 8 fetuses. All but 1 of the 12 confirmed CAT cases had associated heart and/or extracardiac anomalies. Of the 8 liveborn cases of postnatally confirmed CAT, 2 died before or after surgery respectively. The remaining 6 remained alive after successful corrective surgery.

Prenatal diagnosis of CAT can be difficult in some cases and other diseases should be excluded before diagnosing CAT. Isolated CAT can be repaired by postnatal corrective surgery with a good outcome.