Fetal echocardiography - 25-year experience in Serbia

Introduction/Objective. Congenital heart diseases are the most common congenital anomalies. The objective of the study was to determine reliability, specificity, and sensitivity of fetal echocardiography in detection of congenital heart diseases in a referral center for fetal echocardiography. Methods. We analyzed 14,500 fetal echocardiography exams (FEC) between 1991 and 2014, performed in two tertiary centers. Results. The average maternal age at the time of diagnosis was 32 years. The mean gestational age at the time of diagnosis was 25.9 weeks. The most common indications for FEC were suspicious abnormal cardiac findings in obstetrical screening sonography (50.6%). Among 9,055 examined fetuses, pathological finding on the fetal heart was found in 638 cases. The most common congenital heart diseases were structural anomalies of the fetal heart in 81%, of which 13.3% were fetuses with hypoplastic left heart syndrome and 11.2% with ventricular septal defect. Of all fetuses with diagnosed congenital heart defect, 46.2% were born alive and had good postnatal prognosis, while 2.7% died in utero, and 10.6% died in the early neonatal period. Pregnancy was terminated in 40.4% of fetuses with severe congenital heart defect. Sensitivity of the diagnostic procedure in our study was 95.9%, and specificity was 99.9%. Conclusion. Our study proves that FEC is a reliable, informative diagnostic tool in detecting congenital heart defects with high specificity and sensitivity. With multidisciplinary approach, it provides an optimal time window for improving perinatal outcome