Echocardiographic features and outcome of restrictive foramen ovale in fetuses without cardiac malformations / 中华超声影像学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of restrictive foramen ovale ( RFO ) monitored by fetal echocardiography during the middle to late stage of pregnancy . Methods The detection rate ,echocardiographic features and outcome in fetuses with RFO without cardiac malformations from 7319 pregnant women received prenatal echocardiography were retrospectively reviewed and analyzed . Results RFO was found in 40 of 7319 (0 .55％ ) fetuses . The inclusion criteria including a narrow right to left shunt of less than 2 .5 mm in diameter across atrial septum , enlarged right atrium , increased right-to-left ventricular size ratio ,and increased size ratio of main pulmonary artery to aorta were present in 40 fetuses . The direct ultrasound characters of RFO included limited opening of oval valve ( 70％ ) and foramen ovale diameter less than 2 .5 mm (30％ ) . And atrial septal aneurysm ( 62 .5％ ) ,redundant primum atrial septum (57 .5％ ) ,abnormal ductus arteriosus ( 57 .5％ ) might also be present commonly in RFO . As the gestational weeks increased , the size ratio of right-to-left atrium , right-to-left ventricle and the main pulmonary artery to aorta also increased significantly( P =0 .004 , P <0 .001 , P <0 .001) . Among the 40 fetuses with RFO ,21 cases ( 52 .5％ ) gave birth in full term ,8 cases ( 20％ ) which were detected severe tricuspid regurgitation gave birth in early cesarean section ,5 cases ( 12 .5％ ) had induced labor and 6 cases (15％ ) were lost in the follow-up . Of the 29 newborns ,only 1 case died of heart failure ,and the other 28 subjects recovered both from heart structure or cardiac function within four months . Conclusions RFOwithout cardiac malformations presents echocardiographic features characterized by a narrow right to left shunt of less than 2 .5 mm in diameter across atrial septum . Fetal echocardiography can monitor the dynamic change of fetal heart structure and function based on the increase of right heart load and decrease of left heart volume ,which has important clinical significance for assessing fetal intrauterine condition and prognosis .