Fetal echocardiography: new insight into fetal cardiology--a review.

ABSTRACT

Recent advance in echocardiography has permitted detailed imaging of the fetal heart, facilitating the prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease and the diagnosis and treatment of fetal arrhythmias. New advance in Doppler echocardiography has provided important information about the physiology of normal and abnormal fetal circulation. From 1980 to 1986, we performed echocardiography on 564 fetuses, including 254 normal and 310 high risk pregnants. Results are discussed in terms of the method and accuracy of the prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease, the recognition of and intrauterine treatment of fetal arrhythmias, the diagnosis of fetal heart failure, the assessment of fetal circulation by Doppler echocardiography, the management of the fetus with cardiac problems, and the ethical aspects of fetal cardiology.