Diagnosis of congenital heart disease by early and second-trimester fetal echocardiography.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the cardiac findings at 11 to 14 weeks' gestation with the second-trimester findings to evaluate the reliability of first-trimester echocardiography and the possibility of congenital heart disease evolution.

Methods: The database of our fetal medicine unit was searched for all patients who had undergone fetal echocardiography at 11 to 14 and 18 to 22 weeks' gestation from 2005 to 2010. In all of the antenatally suspected cases of congenital heart disease, the diagnosis was established conclusively by postnatal echocardiography, surgery, or autopsy.

Fetal cardiac evaluation at 11-14 weeks by experienced obstetricians in a low-risk population.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the detection rate of congenital heart diseases (CHD) in a low-risk population by performing cardiac evaluation during the first-trimester screening for chromosomal abnormalities. In this context, the role of four-chamber view, tricuspid regurgitation and abnormal ductus venosus flow in the screening for cardiac anomalies in a low-risk population was also investigated.

Method: The cardiac examination was performed by obstetricians with extensive experience in first- and second-trimester ultrasound (US).

Gene expression in chorionic villous samples at 11 weeks' gestation from women destined to develop preeclampsia.

Objective: To evaluate the direct alterations in mRNA expression among chorionic villous samples from 11 weeks' pregnant women who would develop preeclampsia (PE) later in the pregnancy.

Method: Case-control study encompassing five women destined to develop PE [cases matched 1:5 for gestational age (GA) with 25 controls]. We quantified mRNA expression on tissue samples from chorionic villous sampling (CVS) of normal and PE patients.

PLAC1 mRNA in maternal blood correlates with Doppler waveform in uterine arteries in normal pregnancies at the second and third trimester.

Doppler analysis of the uterine arteries is currently used for pre-eclampsia (PE) screening. PLAC1 is a trophoblast-specific gene, and it is known that in normal pregnancies, trophoblastic cells are released into the maternal circulation, where specific trophoblastic mRNA can be detected. In PE, as in women who eventually develop PE, an abnormal passage of fetal and placental cells is also present.

PLAC1 mRNA levels in maternal blood at induction of labor correlate negatively with induction-delivery interval.

Objective: This study was conducted to determine whether, in low risk women having labor induced using prostaglandin gel (dinoprostone gel), there is a relationship between the concentration of mRNA for the PLAC1 gene (a trophoblast-specific gene) in maternal blood and the time elapsed between the first gel administration and spontaneous delivery.

Study Design: Blood was collected from 49 selected women at 40.2-41.

Total activin A in maternal blood as a marker of preterm delivery in low-risk asymptomatic patients.

Objectives: To retrospectively evaluate whether increased serum levels of total activin A (t-activin A) are found in women who subsequently experience preterm delivery (PTD).

Methods: Data on maternal serum t-activin A concentrations were available from a total of 84 singleton pregnant women and included 14 PTD pregnancies, each matched for gestational age and length of freezer storage, with 5 control pregnancies having term delivery (TD). Analyte values were expressed as multiple(s) of the control median.