The echocardiographic characteristics and clinical signiifcance of prenatal diagnosis of coronary artery fistula / 中华医学超声杂志（电子版）

ABSTRACT

Objective To summarize the echocardiographic characteristics and clinical signiifcance of prenatal diagnosis of coronary artery ifstula (CAF). Methods Images and follow-up results of ifve fetuses with CAF diagnosed by fetal echocardiography between January, 2011 and December, 2012 in our department were reviewed. Results Echocardiographic characteristics of CAF were a dilated coronary artery in the four chamber view and the left ventricular outlfow tract view. Track the course of the dilated coronary artery can conifrm the oriifce of the ifstula. Among the ifve cases, the oriifce of the ifstula included the aortic root of left ventricular outlfow tract, right atrium side of interatrial septum, the entrance of superior vena cava to right atrium, right ventricular apex and right ventricle cone. The colour Doppler lfow imaging showed turbulence in the dilated coronary artery. The spectral Doppler with the sampling gate in coronary artery showed the characteristic bidirectional lfow pattern. One case was associated with other complex intracardiac abnormalities and one case with persistent left superior vena cava. Among the ifve cases of CAF diagnosed by fetal echocardiography, one case was missed and four cases were conifrmed by postnatal echocardiography. Conclusion Coronary artery ifstula has special fetal echocardiographic characteristics. The fetal echocardiography plays an important role in early detection, diagnosis and treatment of CAF.