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)
-
Evelina Gasperskaja,
Vaidutis Kučinskas,
The most common technologies and tools for functional genome analysis
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 24 No. 1 (2017)
-
Domantė Kučikienė,
Rūta Praninskienė,
The impact of music on the bioelectrical oscillations of the brain
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 25 No. 2 (2018)
-
Ho Hin Ma,
Rasa Liutkevičienė,
Age-Related Macular Degeneration: What Do We Know So Far?
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 1 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Kastytis Šmigelskas,
Kęstutis Petrikonis,
Vytautas Kasiulevičius,
Ramunė Kalėdienė,
Audronė Jakaitienė,
Snieguolė Kaselienė,
Skirmantė Sauliūnė,
Aušra Beržanskytė,
Mindaugas Stankūnas,
SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in Lithuania: Results of National Population Survey
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 1 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Lee Seong WEI,
Wendy WEE,
Julius YONG FU SIONG,
Desy Fitrya SYAMSUMIR,
Characterization of antimicrobial, antioxidant, anticancer properties and chemical composition of Sauropus androgynus stem extract
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 18 No. 1 (2011)
-
Daiva Gudavičienė,
Laura Steponavičienė,
Nadežda Lachej,
Krūties vėžys Lietuvoje
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 22 No. 3 (2015)
-
Vilma Kuzminskaitė,
Justina Kaklauskaitė,
Justė Petkevičiūtė,
Incidence and features of preoperative anxiety in patients undergoing elective non-cardiac surgery
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 26 No. 1 (2019): Acta Medica Lituanica
-
Daniel Rogoža,
Robertas Strumila,
Eglė Klivickaitė,
Edgaras Diržius,
Neringa Čėnaitė,
Depressive Symptoms, Help-Seeking, and Barriers to Mental Healthcare Among Healthcare Professionals in Lithuania
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 1 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Andrew Bush,
Thomas Ferkol,
Algirdas Valiulis,
Artur Mazur,
Ivane Chkhaidze,
Tamaz Maglakelidze,
Sergey Sargsyan,
Gevorg Boyajyan,
Olga Cirstea,
Svitlana Doan,
Oleksandr Katilov,
Valeriy Pokhylko,
Leonid Dubey,
Edita Poluziorovienė,
Nina Prokopčiuk,
Vaida Taminskienė,
Arūnas Valiulis,
Unfriendly Fire: How the Tobacco Industry is Destroying the Future of Our Children
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 28 No. 1 (2021): Acta medica Lituanica
-
Ieva Rudinskaitė,
Eglė Mačiūtė,
Giedrė Gudžiūnaitė,
Greta Gerulaitytė,
Burnout Syndrome Amongst Medicine Students in Lithuania and Germany
,
Acta medica Lituanica: Vol. 27 No. 2 (2020): Acta medica Lituanica