Related Experiment Videos
[The reliability of prenatal echographic studies of neural tube defects; a prospective study]
M J Korenromp1, R Kriek, H van den Born-van den Broek
1Academisch Ziekenhuis, afd. Verloskunde, Utrecht.
Objective:
To determine the accuracy of antenatal ultrasound investigation in the detection of neural tube defects.
Design:
Prospective study.
Setting:
University Hospital Utrecht.
Method:
Specific ultrasound investigation was carried out in 739 patients at risk for carrying a fetus with a neural tube defect.
Results:
The sensitivity of ultrasound investigation was 91.7%, the specificity 99.8%, the positive predictive value 84.6% and the negative predictive value 99.9%.
Conclusion:
In our view expert ultrasonographic examination with appropriate counselling is an acceptable alternative for patients with a moderately increased risk of having a foetus with NTD and sufficiently accurate to replace invasive diagnostic procedures.