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)
-
Aistis Žalnora,
Vitalija Miežutavičiūtė,
The development of public health in early XXth century in Vilnius
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 21 No. 3 (2014)
-
Ingrida Lisauskienė,
Kristina Garuolienė,
Jolanta Gulbinovič,
Trends and pattern of the utilization of cardiovascular medicines in Lithuania in 2003–2012
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 21 No. 3 (2014)
-
Ieva Daunoravičienė,
Rūta Lenkutienė,
Audrė Musteikytė,
Diana Ramašauskaitė,
Preterm premature rupture of membranes at 32–34 weeks of gestation: duration of membrane rupture period and maternal blood indicators relation with congenital infection
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 21 No. 4 (2014)
-
Valdas Banys,
Viktorija Andrejevaitė,
Virginijus Šapoka,
Zita Aušrelė Kučinskienė,
Platelet function and indices in Lithuanian men with dyslipidemia: associations with inflammatory biomarkers
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 21 No. 4 (2014)
-
Marius Strioga,
Vita Pašukonienė,
Neringa Dobrovolskienė,
Tadas Petraitis,
Nijolė Kazlauskaitė,
Adas Darinskas,
Lina Jokubauskienė,
Dainius Characiejus,
Quantitative changes within the peripheral blood CD8highCD57+ T-cell subpopulation of patients with advanced renal cell carcinoma
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 20 No. 4 (2013)
-
Birutė Tumienė,
Algirdas Utkus,
Vaidutis Kučinskas,
Imprinting and its disorders in evolutionary perspective
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 21 No. 3 (2014)
-
Eglė Kontrimavičiūtė,
Vilma Kuzminskaitė,
Jūratė Šipylaitė,
Noninvasive cerebral oximetry during carotid endarterectomy: application and results
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 22 No. 2 (2015)
-
Olga Plisko,
Jana Žodžika,
Irina Jermakova,
Inta Liepniece-Karele,
Jeļena Eglīte,
Dace Rezeberga,
Human Leucocyte Antigen Class II Risk and Protective Alleles in Women with Cervical Intraepithelial Neoplasia
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 31 No. 1 (2024): Acta medica Lituanica [Ahead of print]
-
Tomas Lūža,
Agnė Ožalinskaitė,
Vilius Rudaitis,
The rate and role of diaphragmatic peritonectomy in optimal cytoreduction in patients with advanced stage ovarian cancer: a prospective study of 100 patients
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 21 No. 1 (2014)
-
Anna Kornete,
Diana Bokucava,
Natalija Vedmedovska,
Fetal Sacrococcygeal Teratoma: A Case Report of a Giant Tumor with an Excellent Outcome
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 30 No. 2 (2023): Acta medica Lituanica