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Endocardial cushion defect screening

Editor-In-Chief: C. Michael Gibson, M.S., M.D. [1]; Associate Editor(s)-in-Chief: Aditya Ganti M.B.B.S. [2]

Overview

Routine fetal ultrasound during prenatal care can detect endocardial cushion defects. Diagnostic findings on fetal ultrasound suggestive of endocardial cushion defect include large defect at the crux of the heart that involves the atrial and ventricular septa and a large common AV valve.

Screening

  • During prenatal care routine fetal ultrasound can help in making an in-utero diagnosis of endocardial cushion defect.[1][2]
  • Diagnostic findings on fetal ultrasound suggestive of endocardial cushion defect include:
    • Large defect at the crux of the heart that involves the atrial and ventricular septa,
    • Large common AV valve
  • Abnormalities detected on fetal ultrasound should be followed by a fetal echocardiography for confirmation due to the poor sensitivity of fetal ultrasound.[3]

References

  1. Machado MV, Crawford DC, Anderson RH, Allan LD (March 1988). “Atrioventricular septal defect in prenatal life”. Br Heart J. 59 (3): 352–5. doi:10.1136/hrt.59.3.352. PMC 1216470. PMID 3355725.
  2. Allan LD (November 1999). “Atrioventricular septal defect in the fetus”. Am. J. Obstet. Gynecol. 181 (5 Pt 1): 1250–3. doi:10.1016/s0002-9378(99)70117-1. PMID 10561654.
  3. ter Heide H, Thomson JD, Wharton GA, Gibbs JL (August 2004). “Poor sensitivity of routine fetal anomaly ultrasound screening for antenatal detection of atrioventricular septal defect”. Heart. 90 (8): 916–7. doi:10.1136/hrt.2003.018895. PMC 1768387. PMID 15253968.

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