The evaluation of congenital heart diseases, fetaldisrhythmias in the prenatal period and comparison ofthe postnatal results with fetal echocardiography: 10-year single-center retrospective research

Congenital heart diseases are the most common congenital anomalies and the leading causes of perinatal morbidity and mortality. Hence, fetal echocardiography is recommended for high-risk pregnant women. In this study, the frequency and distribution of fetal cardiac anomalies in low and high risk pregnancies in terms of congenital heart disease was investigated retrospectively, evaluating the reasons for presentation, risk factors, fetal and postnatal echocardiography results.The data of 7694 fetuses who underwent fetal echocardiography between January 2008 and December 2018 in Bursa Uludağ University Faculty of Medicine Department of Pediatric Cardiology and 375 babies whose postnatal transthoracic echocardiography records were obtained from these fetuses were retrospectively evaluated. Pregnant women were divided into two groups as high / medium risk (group 1) and low risk (group 2) according to their application indications. In the study, echocardiography was performed on 7694 fetuses. The week of gestation varied between 15-40 weeks (23.4 ± 4.5 weeks). It was determined that 94.2% of 7694 fetuses belonged to group 1 and 5.8% belonged to group 2. While the rate of congenital heart disease was 11.7% in all fetuses, it was 12.1% in group 1 and 5.2% in group 2. When prenatal and postnatal echocardiography results were compared, 82.6% of the results were the same. The highest sensitivity (97%) and specificity (100%) were found in complex congenital heart diseases. The prevalence of congenital heart disease was higher in high-risk pregnant women compared to low-risk pregnant women. In the study, a low risk for congenital heart disease was found in some indications that constitute the high risk group. Statistically significant results were obtained in some indications in the low risk group. Early detection of congenital heart disease by fetal echocardiography reduces mortality and morbidity by providing appropriate medical or surgical treatment planning for these fetuses immediately after birth. Keywords: Fetal echocardiography, Congenital heart diseases, Pregnancy risk factors, Prenatal diagnosis.