Automated quantitative evaluation of fetal atrioventricular annular plane systolic excursion before and after intrauterine blood transfusion in pregnancies affected by red blood cell alloimmunization.

Introduction: Maternal red blood cell alloimmunization during pregnancy can lead to hemolysis and various degrees of fetal anemia, which can be treated with intrauterine blood transfusion (IUT) to prevent adverse outcomes. Knowledge about fetal myocardial function and adaptation is limited. The aim of the present study was to measure fetal atrioventricular plane displacement before and after IUT and compare these measurements with previously established reference ranges.

Fetal cardiac function at intrauterine transfusion assessed by automated analysis of color tissue Doppler recordings.

Background: Fetal anemia is associated with a hyperdynamic circulation and cardiac remodeling. Rapid intrauterine transfusion (IUT) of blood with high hematocrit and viscosity into the umbilical vein used to treat this condition can temporarily further affect fetal heart function. The aim of this study was to evaluate the short-term changes in fetal myocardial function caused by IUT using automated analysis of cine-loops of the fetal heart obtained by color tissue Doppler imaging (cTDI).

Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy - 4 Swedish families with an associated PKP2 c.2146-1G>C variant.

In this study, the genotype-phenotype correlations in four unrelated families with a PKP2 c.2146-1G>C gene variant were studied. Our primary aim was to determine the carriers that fulfilled the arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) diagnostic criteria of 2010.

Automated analysis of color tissue Doppler velocity recordings of the fetal myocardium using a new algorithm.

Background: Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) can be used to assess fetal cardiac function and it has been shown to detect changes associated with hypoxia in animal models. However, the analysis is cumbersome and time consuming. The main objective of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of a new algorithm developed for the automated analysis of color TDI velocity recordings of the fetal myocardium.

Reference values for fetal tissue velocity imaging and a new approach to evaluate fetal myocardial function.

Objectives: Myocardial function can be evaluated using color-coded tissue velocity imaging (TVI) to analyze the longitudinal myocardial velocity profile, and by expressing the motion of the atrioventricular plane during a cardiac cycle as coordinated events in the cardiac state diagram (CSD). The objective of this study was to establish gestational age specific reference values for fetal TVI measurements and to introduce the CSD as a potential aid in fetal myocardial evaluation.

Methods: TVI recordings from 125 healthy fetuses, at 18 to 42 weeks of gestation, were performed with the transducer perpendicular to the apex to provide a four-chamber view.

The cardiac state diagram as a novel approach for the evaluation of pre- and post-ejection phases of the cardiac cycle in asphyxiated fetal lambs.

The aim of this study was to investigate myocardial wall motion using echocardiography and color-coded tissue velocity imaging and to generate a cardiac state diagram for evaluation of the duration of the pre- and post-ejection phases in asphyxiated fetal lambs. Six near-term lambs were partly exteriorized and brought to cardiac arrest through asphyxia. Echocardiography measurements were recorded simultaneously with arterial blood sampling for lactate and blood gases.

Fetal cardiac muscle contractility decreases with gestational age: a color-coded tissue velocity imaging study.

Background: Present data regarding how the fetal heart works and develops throughout gestation is limited. However, the possibility to analyze the myocardial velocity profile provides new possibilities to gain further knowledge in this area. Thus, the objective of this study was to evaluate human fetal myocardial characteristics and deformation properties using color-coded tissue velocity imaging (TVI).

Pregnant women are satisfied with the information they receive about prenatal diagnosis, but are their decisions well informed?

OBJECTIVE. To survey the information about prenatal diagnosis that midwives give to pregnant women and to find out how the women experience the information. Furthermore, to evaluate the midwives' opinion about their knowledge and personal need for education.

Routine assessment of amniotic fluid alpha-Fetoprotein in early second-trimester amniocentesis is no longer justified.

Background: Open fetal neural tube defects are often followed by an increase in alpha-Fetoprotein concentration in amniotic fluid. For over 25 years there has been a routine to measure amniotic fluid alpha-Fetoprotein in conjunction with early genetic amniocentesis. The efficacy of such a screening test in a low-risk population has been questioned but never evaluated in a Swedish population.