Antenatal sonographic diagnosis of clubfoot: a six-year experience

In the period 1988 through 1993, 6351 pregnant women were referred to the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University "La Sapienza", Roma, for suspected fetal anomalies or maternofetal problems. All underwent serial transabdominal and/or transvaginal ultrasound scanning, which revealed a total of 235 fetuses with hydrocephalus, cardiac, or musculoskeletal malformations. Forty-one clubfeet were detected in 27 pregnancies in the early part of the second trimester of pregnancy. Of these, 14 feet in eight patients were isolated, and were classified as idiopathic. A clubfoot was associated with neural tube defects in six patients, with anomalies of the urinary and/or digestive system in a further six, with a cystic hygroma in two, and with other musculoskeletal abnormalities in the other six patients. Amniocentesis revealed an abnormal karyotype in six fetuses (22.2%). In only two cases was oligohydramnios present. In both these patients, a fetal urinary tract malformation was present Polyhydramnios was found in 18 cases, and a normal amount of amniotic fluid was found in the remaining seven cases. Polyhydramnios was present in six of the eight idiopathic clubfoot fetuses. Clubfoot is associated with musculoskeletal and visceral anomalies in a high proportion of cases. The association of clubfoot with polyhydramnios in a high proportion of cases does not support the hypothesis of intrauterine moulding as an etiological factor in its development. Ultrasonographical prenatal detection of a clubfoot should prompt amniocentesis, as the condition is associated with an abnormal karyotype in a significant proportion of cases.