Color Doppler evaluation of umbilical arteries in relation to bony landmarks in the fetal pelvis as a clue to the mid-trimester diagnosis of bladder exstrophy: A novel observation.

ABSTRACT

Color Doppler (CD) is an established diagnostic modality for bladder exstrophy. We present two mid-trimester difficult-to-diagnose cases with no obvious infraumbilical mass bulge, assessed by CD in sagittal and axial pelvic views. The first case was a classical bladder exstrophy at 19 weeks nestled under the umbilical-cord and the second case was an omphalocele-exstrophy-imperforate-anus-spinal complex at 18 weeks 4 days gestation with exstrophic bladder embedded under the omphalocele. The altered course of umbilical arteries in relation to pelvic bony landmarks seen in these fetuses could be an objective approach to complement mid-trimester diagnosis of bladder exstrophy regardless of mass bulge.