Abstract
Background. The discovery of ultrasound has made a revolution in almost all fields of medicine. The past three decades have withessed an intensive development of fetal echocardiography methods and technique. The aim of the paper is to present a review of the results and trends of the last 10 years of fetal echocardiography in Lithuania and to show the spectrum and outcomes of prenatally detected congenital heart diseases.
Materials and methods. Fetal echocardiography was performed for 1816 fetuses during the period from 1999 to 2009.
Results. Cardiac pathology was diagnosed in 176 (9.7%) fetuses. Heart defects were detected in 112 (63.6%) of them, cardiac rhythm and conduction disturbances in 62 (35.2%), cardiomyopathy in 2 (1.1%) fetuses, and heart rhabdomyoma in 1 (0.6%) fetus. The general rate of the postnatal diagnosis of congenital heart defects in Lithuania was about 10%. Most of fetal cardiac diseases (70.5%) were diagnosed after 22 weeks of gestation. Because most of antenatally diagnosed congenital heart defects (74%) were critical and inconsistent with life, a large part of newborns (40.2%) died in the neonatal period, 10.7% of fetuses died in utero, and 8% of pregnancies were terminated by abortion. The data demonstrate good tendencies: the diagnosis has become earlier, a wider spectrum of diseases have been diagnosed, more newborns have survived. Our survey shows that 41.1% of newborns with prenatally diagnosed congenital heart defects have survived.
Conclusions. 10% of severe congenital heart diseases are detected prenatally in Lithuania. The efficacy of antenatal diagnostics depends on the qualification of specialists, the number of tertiary care centers, on a successful collaboration among pediatric cardiologists, obstetricians and geneticists. The main problem is an insufficient preparation of obstetricians, the uncertified favor of pediatric cardiologist.
Keywords: congenital heart disease, fetal echocardiography, antenatal diagnostics
Downloads
Download data is not yet available.
Most read articles by the same author(s)
-
Roberts Rumba,
Sandra Cipkina,
Fanija Cukure,
Andrejs Vanags,
Systemic and local inflammation in colorectal cancer
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 25 No. 4 (2018)
-
Giedrius Bernotavičius,
Kęstutis Saniukas,
Irena Karmonaitė,
Rimantas Zagorskis,
Superior mesenteric artery syndrome
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 23 No. 3 (2016)
-
Alma Molytė,
Alina Urnikytė,
Vaidutis Kučinskas,
A comparative analysis of mathematical methods for homogeneity estimation of the Lithuanian population
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 26 No. 4 (2019): Acta Medica Lituanica
-
Vilius Rudaitis,
Gailė Maldutytė,
Jūratė Brazauskienė,
Mykolas Pavlauskas,
Dileta Valančienė,
Caesarean Scar Pregnancy: A Case Report
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 29 No. 1 (2022): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Gabrielė Žiūkaitė,
Marta Jasaitė,
Sigitas Chmieliauskas,
Diana Vasiljevaitė,
Sigitas Laima,
Dalius Banionis,
Jurgita Stasiūnienė,
Homicides Disguised as Fire Deaths
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 30 No. 1 (2023): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Agnė Okulevičiūtė,
Gabija Laubner Sakalauskienė,
Narrative Literature Review of Potential Atrial Fibrillation Mechanism of Action Induced by Discontinuation of Benzodiazepines
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 30 No. 2 (2023): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Anna Garmpi,
Christos Damaskos,
Nikolaos Garmpis,
Vasiliki Epameinondas Georgakopoulou,
Vaios Vasileios Kaminiotis,
Evangelos Diamantis,
Alexandros Patsouras,
Athanasios Syllaios,
Dimitrios Dimitroulis,
All that Glitters is not Cholecystitis. A Rare Presentation of Acute Pericarditis Mimicking Cholecystitis and Review of the Literature
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 29 No. 2 (2022): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Gabrielius Jakutis,
Vytautas Juknevičius,
Juratė Barysienė,
Dalia Matačiūnienė,
Birutė Petrauskienė,
Žaneta Petrulionienė,
Aleksandras Laucevičius,
A rare case of REM sleep-related bradyarrhythmia syndrome with concomitant severe hypertension: a case report and a review of literature
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 25 No. 1 (2018)
-
Abdulhalim Hamlah,
Abd Alraouf Tarabishy,
Haitham Al-Madhagi,
Mini Review of Biochemical Basis, Diagnosis and Management of Crush Syndrome
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 30 No. 2 (2023): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Aurelija Liulytė,
Algirdas Žalimas,
Raimundas Meškauskas,
Jurgita Ušinskienė,
Feliksas Jankevičius,
Partial nephrectomy can be a successful treatment option for renal epithelioid angiomyolipoma: a case report and literature review
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 27 No. 1 (2020): Acta medica Lituanica