Fetal Cardiac Function
● INTRODUCTION The application of fetal echocardiography in clinical practice is primarily used to identify fetuses with structural heart abnormalities. For this purpose, extensive expertise has amassed over the past…
Right Aortic Arch, Double Aortic Arch, and Aberrant Subclavian Artery
● INTRODUCTION It is generally acknowledged that anomalies of aortic arch branching are best understood when basic embryology of the aortic arch is reviewed. The hypothetical double aortic arch theory, suggested…
Systematic Evaluation of the Venous System
● INTRODUCTION The sonographic assessment of the fetal venous system has seen significant advances over the past 20 years, since the pioneering work on the ductus venosus (DV) by Kiserud…
Fetal Cardiac Examination in Early Gestation
● INTRODUCTION Over the past decade, the widespread adoption of first-trimester risk assessment with nuchal translucency (NT) and other first-trimester ultrasound markers increased interest in early anomaly scan in general…
Aortic Stenosis and Bicuspid Aortic Valve
● AORTIC STENOSIS Definition, Spectrum of Disease, and Incidence Aortic stenosis is defined as narrowing at the level of the aortic valve leading to an obstruction of left ventricular outflow (Fig….
Common Arterial Trunk
● COMMON ARTERIAL TRUNK Definition, Spectrum of Disease, and Incidence Common arterial trunk (CAT), also referred to as persistent truncus arteriosus, truncus arteriosus communis, and aorticopulmonary trunk, is characterized by…
The Three-Vessel-Trachea View and Upper Mediastinum
● INTRODUCTION The sonographic assessment in axial planes of the vessels in the upper fetal thorax was first described in the mid-1980s (1) and early 1990s (2). The value of…
Univentricular Atrioventricular Connection, Double Inlet Ventricle, and Tricuspid Atresia with Ventricular Septal Defect
● UNIVENTRICULAR ATRIOVENTRICULAR CONNECTION Univentricular atrioventricular connection describes a group of cardiac malformations where the atrioventricular connection is completely or predominantly to a single ventricular chamber. Embryologically, this malformation is…
Pulsed Doppler in Fetal Echocardiography
● INTRODUCTION The advent of pulsed and color Doppler techniques in the early and late eighties allowed for the noninvasive examination of the fetal cardiovascular system. This significant imaging advancement…
Cardiac Anatomy
● INTRODUCTION In order to be able to accurately interpret fetal cardiac imaging by ultrasound, a full understanding of fetal cardiac anatomy is required (1, 2). The heart is a…
