The Mathematical Limitations of Fetal Echocardiography as a Screening Tool in the Setting of a Normal Second-Trimester Ultrasound.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The effectiveness of screening strategies targeting pregnancies at higher risk of congenital heart disease (CHD) is reduced by the low prevalence of severe CHD, the increase in CHD detection rates by second-trimester ultrasound (U/S), and the high proportion of severe CHD in low-risk pregnancies. We aimed to determine situations in which additional screening by fetal echocardiography (FE) would result in a significant increase in sensitivity and a sizable decrease in the false-negative rate of detection of severe CHD.

Methods

We simulated the change in the numbers of detected severe CHD cases when FE is offered to women with a normal second-trimester U/S who have a higher risk of bearing a child with CHD, compared to U/S alone. The primary outcome was the increase

SUBMITTER: Bellavance S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8413228 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature