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Fetal echocardiography, or Fetal echocardiogram, is the name of the test used to diagnose cardiac conditions in the fetal stage. Cardiac defects are amongst the most common birth defects. Their diagnosis is important in the fetal stage as it might help provide an opportunity to plan and manage the baby as and when the baby is born.
An EIF in the fetal heart may indicate an increased chance of the baby having a chromosome problem. It does not affect the development of the baby or the function of the heart. If the baby has normal chromosomes, there would be no associated problems to be concerned about. No special treatment or tests are needed at delivery.
EFE can now be found non-invasively by the recording of increased endocardial echos. Fetal echocardiography has shown that EFE can begin to accumulate as early as 14 weeks of gestation, and increase with incredible rapidity [14] and even that it can be reversed if the stress can be removed early in fetal life. [15]
If a cardiac anomaly is suspected in a routine ultrasound during pregnancy, often a perinatologist (maternal-fetal specialist) will perform a fetal echocardiogram (noninvasive ultrasound of the fetus heart), which may be able to confirm a diagnosis of HRHS. This can help with possible options for treatment.
Many congenital heart defects can be diagnosed prenatally by fetal echocardiography. This is a test which can be done during the second trimester of pregnancy, when the woman is about 18–24 weeks pregnant. [43] [44] It can be an abdominal ultrasound or transvaginal ultrasound. [citation needed]
Sonographer doing an echocardiogram of a child Echocardiogram in the parasternal long-axis view, showing a measurement of the heart's left ventricle. Health societies recommend the use of echocardiography for initial diagnosis when a change in the patient's clinical status occurs and when new data from an echocardiogram would result in the physician changing the patient's care. [7]
o o o s. c: o thO 00 . Created Date: 9/20/2007 3:37:18 PM
Fetal aortic valve stenosis can be diagnosed by echocardiography before birth. [5] The diagnostic features include a poorly contracting left ventricle, aortic valve thickening/restriction, a varying degree of left ventricular hypertrophy and abnormal Doppler flow characteristics in the left heart. [5]