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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
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International Expert Consensus and Recommendations for Neonatal Pneumothorax Ultrasound Diagnosis and Ultrasound-guided Thoracentesis Procedure
Published on: March 12, 2020
Predictive value of pleural effusions in fetal hydrops
1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, St Michael's Hospital, Bristol, UK.
Fetal Diagnosis and Therapy
|March 1, 1995
Summary
Fetal hydrops has diverse causes and a low survival rate, but fetal therapy can improve outcomes. Fetal pleural effusions have limited predictive value for survival in hydrops cases.
Area of Science:
- Perinatology
- Fetal Medicine
- Neonatal Outcomes
Background:
- Fetal hydrops, a condition of excessive fluid accumulation in fetuses, presents with varied etiologies.
- Management and prognostic indicators for fetal hydrops require further elucidation.
Purpose of the Study:
- To report outcomes of fetal hydrops cases.
- To evaluate the efficacy of fetal therapy.
- To assess the predictive value of fetal pleural effusions for mortality.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 28 fetal hydrops cases.
- Inclusion of data from two prior studies for a combined analysis of 182 cases.
- Statistical evaluation of fetal pleural effusions for predicting fetal or neonatal death.
Main Results:
- A diverse range of causes for fetal hydrops was identified.
- Fetal therapy was administered in 42.9% of cases.
- Overall survival was 36.8% (excluding elective terminations), improving to 64% for normal fetuses from 20 weeks.
- Fetal pleural effusions showed limited predictive accuracy (62%) for mortality in non-therapeutic termination cases.
Conclusions:
- Fetal hydrops management is complex with varied outcomes.
- Fetal therapy offers potential survival benefits.
- Fetal pleural effusions are not a strong predictor of outcome in fetal hydrops.
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