Perinatal Results and Long-Term Follow-Up of Fetal Cardiac Tumors: A 30-Year Historical Cohort Study

This was a 30-year retrospective cohort study that approximates closely to the natural history of cardiac tumors diagnosed in the fetus, since there was no case of pregnancy interruption.

To assess morbidity and mortality in the perinatal period and at long term in fetuses diagnosed with cardiac tumor. Our secondary objective was to assess the evaluating factors of perinatal and postnatal results.

This was a retrospective cohort study with 74 pregnant women with an echocardiographic diagnosis of fetal cardiac tumor at two referral centers between May 1991 and November 2021. A descriptive analysis was performed, and data were expressed as absolute (n) and relative (%) frequencies, median and interquartile range. Fisher's exact test was used to evaluate the association of echocardiographic characteristics and clinical manifestations with perinatal and postnatal results. Global survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method and the curves were compared by the log-rank test. The time of follow-up, calculated in months, corresponded to the time elapsed from hospital discharge to current status (survived/ censoring or death). The level of significance was set at 5% (p<0.05).

Rhabdomyoma is the most common type of cardiac tumor (85%), with a high morbidity (79.3%) and overall mortality of 17.4%. The presence of fetal hydrops was a predictor of death.

The presence of fetal hydrops had an impact on mortality, and hence is an important factor in counselling and determining the prognosis. Most deaths occurred before hospital discharge.