Nuchal Translucency Thickness at 11-14 Weeks of Gestation in Cameroon

Objectives: To determine the prevalence of nuchal translucency at 11-14 weeks of pregnancy in the Cameroonian population. Compare our values of the nuchal translucency thickness to international reference valuesMaterial and Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study including 332 Cameroonian women who received obstetric ultrasound between 11 and 14 weeks in four hospitals in Cameroon; from 1st January to 31 December 2012. Measurement of nuchal translucency was performed according to the recommendations of the Fetal Medicine Foundation. Results: 340 fetuses were examined. The median nuchal thickness was 1.5 mm (range: 0 - 9.7 mm). Abnormal nuchal thickness (? 3 mm) was 1.5(5/340) and was significantly predominant in the range of maternal age over 36 years. In 8.8(30/340) of cases; nuchal translucency was absent among which 46.7(14/30) were examined before 13 weeks.CONCLUSION: The prevalence of abnormal nuchal translucency thickness is 1.5 in our setting and is significantly higher in the range of maternal age over 36 years. There exists an early 'filling' of nuchal translucency (before 13 weeks) in some Cameroonian fetus

Nuchal Translucency as a Method of First-Trimester Screening for Aneuploidy

Objective. To determine the effectiveness of nuchal translucency (NT) screening in predicting aneuploidy and structural abnormalities in a South African population. Study design. Descriptive study. Setting. Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital fetal medicine unit. Outcome measures. An adjusted risk was derived from the combination of maternal age-related risk and the risk derived from NT screening. A positive screen was denoted by an adjusted risk of more than 1/300 and a negative screen by an adjusted risk of less than 1/300. In order to determine the number of undiagnosed abnormalities in the group; all babies were examined by a paediatrician at birth to detect and describe dysmorphic features. Results. A total of 428 patients underwent first-trimester screening between July 2003 and July 2005. Three per cent were lost to follow-up. Of the 415 patients analysed; 59 screened positive and 356 screened negative. The mean age for both groups of patients was 30.1 years. Of the 57 patients who screened positive; 24 elected to have chorionic villus sampling (CVS). This resulted in the detection of 6 chromosomal abnormalities and 2 structural abnormalities. Among the remaining 356 patients; who had screened negative; 2 had an increase in the adjusted risk when the risk was compared with the background risk; and 1 chromosomal abnormality was detected in this group; 8 elected to have CVS because of a previous history of a chromosomal abnormality; and there were no abnormalities among them. Conclusions. The use of these screening methods has enabled prenatal karyotyping to become cost effective; and allows concentration on pregnancies at highest risk for chromosomal abnormalities; regardless of age

Nuchal Translucency (NT) as a Method of First Trimester Screening for Aneuploidy

Objective : To determine the effectiveness of nuchal translucency screening in predicting aneuploidy and structural abnormalities in a South African population Study design Descriptive Study Setting Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital Fetal Medicine Unit Outcome measures An adjusted risk was derived from the combination of maternal age-related risk and the risk derived from nuchal translucency screening. A positive screen was denoted by an adjusted risk of more than 1/300 and a negative screen by an adjusted risk of less than 1/300. In order to determine the number of undiagnosed abnormalities in the group; all babies were examined by a paediatrician at birth to detect and describe dysmorphic features. Results : A total of 428 patients underwent first trimester screening between July 2003 and July 2005. Three percent were lost to follow up. Of the 415 cases analyzed; 57 patients screened positive and 356 patients screened negative. The mean age for both groups of patients was 30.1 years. Of the 57 patients that screened positive 24 elected to have chorionic villus sampling (CVS). This resulted in the detection of 6 chromosomal abnormalities and 2 structural abnormalities. Among the remaining 356 patients; who had screened negative; 2 had an increase in the adjusted risk when the risk was compared to the background risk; and one chromosomal abnormality was detected in this group; 8 elected to have CVS because of a previous history of a chromosomal abnormality and there were no abnormalities among them. Conclusions : The use of these screening methods has enabled prenatal karyotyping to become cost effective; and to allow concentration on pregnancies at highest risk for chromosomal abnormalities; regardless of age