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To evaluate the changes of cardiac morphology and function in fetuses conceived through assisted reproductive technologies (ART) by speckle tracking echocardiography. A retrospective study was conducted in 101 spontaneously conceived (SC) fetuses and 99 ART-conceived ones. Fetal echocardiography was performed, fetal cardiac morphology and function were analyzed using two-dimensional speckle tracking software, including global sphericity index (GSI), global longitudinal strain (GLS), fractional area change (FAC) of the left and right ventricles, as well as segmental sphericity index (SI), end-diastolic diameter (ED), and fractional shortening (FS) in 24 segments. Compared to the SC fetuses, the ART-conceived fetuses exhibited decreased GSI (median [interquartile range], 1.22 [1.16–1.27] vs. 1.18 [1.11–1.24], p=0.007), decreased right ventricular GLS (24.9 [21.5–27.6] vs. 23.2 [20.4–26.8], p=0.026), and decreased right ventricular FAC (mean ± standard deviation, 39.7 ± 6.4 vs. 37.2 ± 7.1, p=0.003). Analysis of the 24 segments showed that ART-conceived fetuses had reduced SI in the apical segments of right ventricle and increased ED in several segments of the right ventricle. Fetuses conceived through ART had a more spherical shape of the global heart and predominantly right-sided cardiac remodeling and systolic function impairment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objectives: To analyze echocardiographic parameters of fetal large ventricular septal defect (VSD) and tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) in the context of multicenter data and big data analysis because these two diseases are often misdiagnosed in fetuses, and to find the key parameters for the differential diagnosis of these two diseases. Methods: A total of 305 cases of large VSD and 192 cases of TOF diagnosed by fetal echocardiography from August 2010 to July 2016 from the database of Beijing Key Laboratory of Fetal Heart Defects were analyzed. Quantile regression of the 48 echocardiographic parameters of the 6272 normal fetuses from seven Chinese medical institutions was performed to determine the Q‐score. The forward selection method and the naive Bayesian classification method were used to analyze the core differential diagnostic variables of fetal TOF and VSD. Results: The Q‐score of the internal diameter of the aorta (AO Q‐score), the ratio of the diameter of the pulmonary artery to the internal diameter of the aorta (PA/AO), and the Q‐score of the ratio of the diameter of the pulmonary artery to the internal diameter of the aorta (PA/AO Q‐score) were key parameters for the differential diagnosis of fetal large VSD and TOF. PA/AO was the primary parameter, with an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of 0.951. Conclusions: These findings provide a new method for the prenatal diagnosis of large VSD and TOF and a theoretical basis for the intelligent diagnosis of large VSD and TOF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]