Establishment of a new integrative mode of prenatal diagnosis and counseling for fetal cardiac anomalies and its efficiency / 中华围产医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To explore a new mode of prenatal diagnosis and counseling for congenital heart disease (CHD) by interdisciplinary cooperation and the value of Grading scale of fetal echocardiography in disease management.Methods The Grading scale of fetal echocardiography and a new integrative service mode of prenatal diagnosis and counseling for CHD with multidisciplinary team,including obstetric sonographers,obstetricians,pediatric cardiologists and geneticists,was established.For pregnant women referred to prenatal clinic in Shanghai First Maternity and Infant Hospital from January 1,2011 to December 31,2012,counseling about the diagnosis,severity,treatment options and long-term prognosis would be provided based on detailed fetal echocardiography and the grading scales.The significance of such mode in the prenatal management of CHD was analyzed and the rate of pregnancy termination was compared by Fisher exact test.Result According to the Grading scale of fetal echocardiography,there were four categoriesClass Ⅰ,minor anomalies probably without treatment requried; Class Ⅱ,simple defects with normal life quality following after-born therapy; Class Ⅲ,complex anomalies with reasonable life quality after treatment; Class Ⅳ,severe malformation requiring multiple stage surgical repair or with very poor prognosis.There were a total of 54 pregnancies confirmed to have fetal cardiac anomalies by echocardiography,among which 27 were terminated.The average age of pregnant women was (29±3) years old,the average gestational week was 28.0±3.8.The abortion rate in women with the fetuses diagnosed as Class Ⅳ CHD was 17/19,higher than that in Class Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ (3/15,3/10 and 4/10,Fisher exact test,all P＜0.01).In 19 Class Ⅳ cases,only two twin pregnant women continued their pregnancies because the other fetuses were healthy.Abortion was conducted in all 7 fetuses associated with extra-cardiac,chromosome anomaly or genetic syndrome.Conclusion The establishment of new integrated mode of prenatal diagnosis and counseling for CHD and Grading scale of fetal echocardiography in a multidisciplinary manner could provide comprehensive and authentic information and ethical advices for the families.