Megacystis associated with an umbilical cord cyst: a sonographic feature of a patent urachus in the first trimester.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this series was to report the first-trimester sonographic findings, antenatal course, and outcome in fetuses with a patent urachus. METHODS: We conducted a review of ultrasound reports and medical charts from 3 pregnancies complicated by a congenital patent urachus detected in the first trimester. RESULTS: All 3 fetuses had megacystis and an umbilical cord cyst close to the fetal abdominal insertion that was detected in the first trimester. In 2 cases, the megacystis resolved spontaneously while the umbilical cord cyst worsened in appearance; among them, massive edema of the umbilical cord was documented in 1, and evidence of partial bladder exstrophy was detected in the third trimester in the other. Both cases required neonatal surgery with no complications. In the remaining case, the fetus died in the early second trimester. Postmortem examination confirmed the diagnosis of a patent urachus, an allantoic cyst, and thrombosis of the umbilical vessels. CONCLUSIONS: Megacystis is a warning sign of a patent urachus in the first trimester. The prognosis of this condition is generally good; however, fetal death can occur secondary to compression of umbilical vessels due to the expanding allantoic cyst.

Hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia: prenatal diagnosis by three-dimensional ultrasonography.

Ectodermal dysplasia is the term used to describe a group of rare congenital anomalies characterized by abnormal development of 1 or several ectoderm-derived tissues. At least 154 different types, divided into 11 clinical subgroups, have been recognized. Among them, the hypohidrotic type is the most common form, with an incidence of 1 per 10,000 to 1 per 100,000 live births. This condition, originally known as anhidrotic ectodermal dysplasia because of the notable reduction of sweat gland function, is clinically characterized by hypohidrosis, hypotrichosis, and hypodontia. Most cases are inherited as an X-linked recessive trait, with the gene responsible being mapped to Xq12-q13.1. The autosomal recessive and dominant patterns of inheritance have also been documented. Prenatal diagnosis of this condition has been reported previously in high-risk pregnancies on the basis of histologic analysis of fetal skin obtained by second-trimester fetoscopy-guided skin biopsy. DNA-based linkage analysis has also made the diagnosis possible with the use of chorionic villi in the first trimester. In this report, we describe noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of hypohidrotic ectodermal dysplasia in a pregnancy at risk for this condition. The diagnosis was achieved by identification of the distinct facial features at 30 weeks' gestation on three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography.

Incidencia de herpes genital en mujeres durante el trabajo de parto / Incidence of genital herpes in women during labor

Se estudió la incidencia de la infección herpética en 200 mujeres elegidas al azar durante el trabajo de parto, encontrándose 2% de embarazadas excretoras asintomáticas de virus herpes simplex. El estudio serológico de esta población mostró que 96% de ellas presentaba anticuerpos antiherpes, los que fueron transmitidos en niveles semejantes a sus hijos, situación comprobada al estudiar la sangre de cordón. No se detectó caso alguno de herpes neonatal en los recién nacidos de las madres excretoras virales