1. Screening for fetal anomalies by ultrasound at 14 and 21 weeks
- Author
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L. Fischer-Tamaro, G. Conoscenti, V. Pecile, G. D'Ottauio, R. Natale, Mariangela Rustico, Y. J. Meir, and G. P. Mandruzzato
- Subjects
Gynecology ,medicine.medical_specialty ,Fetus ,Radiological and Ultrasound Technology ,business.industry ,Obstetrics ,Ultrasound ,Obstetrics and Gynecology ,Prenatal diagnosis ,General Medicine ,medicine.disease ,Reproductive Medicine ,Obstetrics and gynaecology ,medicine ,Gestation ,Radiology, Nuclear Medicine and imaging ,Trisomy ,Prospective cohort study ,business ,Increased nuchal translucency - Abstract
A prospective study of screening for fetal abnormalities and chromosomal defects was carried out by ultrasound examination at 13–l5 weeks of gestation and 20–22 weeks; the first scan was performed transvaginally and the second transabdominally. During a 4-year period (1991–95), 3490 unselected consecutive pregnancies with a total of 3514 fetuses were examined. There were 21 chromosomally abnormal fetuses, including ten with trisomy 21, and, in 19 (90.5%), fetal defects were detected at the first and/or second ultrasound examination. The most effective marker for chromosomal defects was increased nuchal translucency thickness (≥ 4 mm) at the 13–15-week scan, which was present in seven of the ten fetuses with trisomy 21 and in six of the 11 with other chromosomal abnormalities. Copyright © 1997 International Society of Ultrasound in Obstetrics and Gynecology
- Published
- 1997
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