Prenatal diagnosis of vein of Galen aneurysmal malformations.

Vein of Galen aneurysmal malformations are rarely seen intracranial malformations. They represent less than 1% of the cerebral arteriovenous malformations. Prenatal diagnosis of an arteriovenous fistula malformation may be achieved by real-time and Doppler sonography with color flow imaging, by identifying dilated veins and arteriovenous shunts with turbulent flow.

Transient myeloproliferative disorder with a CD7+ and CD56+ myeloid/natural killer cell precursor phenotype in a newborn.

Anewborn with a transient myeloproliferative disorder and a myeloid/natural killer cell leukemia phenotype is described. The blasts expressed CD7, CD33, CD34, CD56, and CD117 but did not react with cytoplasmic myeloperoxidase and were negative for cy CD22, HLA-DR, and CD90 expression. No megakaryoblastic surface markers were identified.

Intraabdominal extralobar pulmonary sequestration exhibiting cystic adenomatoid malformation: prenatal diagnosis and characterization of a left suprarenal mass in the newborn.

An intraabdominal extrathoracic pulmonary sequestration (IEPS) was detected by prenatal ultrasound in a fetus of 19 weeks' gestation. The well-defined echogenic mass, including multiple cystic areas, was located in the left suprarenal region. Knowledge of the characteristic ultrasound appearance helped to differentiate between neuroblastoma and IEPS before surgical treatment.

Transplacental passage of anti-thyroid auto-antibodies in a pregnant woman with auto-immune thyroid disease.

We report the intra-uterine and postnatal thyroid status of a newborn, whose mother, affected with Hashimoto's thyroiditis superimposed on a previous Graves' disease, again became hyperthyroid during the third trimester of pregnancy. The mother had very high levels of anti-thyroid auto-antibodies, including TSH receptor auto-antibodies (TRAb) measured as TSH-binding inhibiting auto-antibodies (TBIAb). In order to exclude fetal thyroid dysfunction due to passive transplacental transfer of TRAb, fetal blood samples were obtained by cordocentesis at 21, 27 and 32 weeks of gestation.

Is there a correlation between aortic Doppler velocimetric findings in diabetic pregnant women and fetal outcome?

At present, the role of Doppler velocimetry in monitoring fetal well-being in diabetic pregnancies is controversial. The present study was conducted to determine if fetal aortic velocity waveforms were correlated with fetal outcome in pregnancies complicated by diabetes mellitus. Fetal aortic blood flow was prospectively assessed in 30 pregnant women with insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

Diabetes mellitus in pregnancy and the assessment of umbilical artery waveforms using pulsed Doppler ultrasonography.

The utility of Doppler ultrasonography as a means of assessing potential alterations of vascular resistance prior to fetal or maternal compromise is very attractive. We investigated this relationship by prospectively performing Doppler studies of the fetal umbilical artery in 56 diabetic patients, 14 of whom had varying degrees of vascular complications. When regression curves were established for the S/D ratio, the Pourcelot index, and the resistance index of the fetal umbilical artery, the mean Doppler values were higher in diabetic patients with vasculopathy than in nondiabetic control patients or in diabetic patients without vasculopathy.

[Prenatal diagnosis of the pentalogy of Cantrell combined with exencephaly and amniotic band syndrome].

A case of pentalogy of Cantrell associated with exencephaly and amniotic band syndrome, detected by ultrasound and then confirmed by pathological findings, is reported. Both conditions are very rare, usually occurring as a single anomaly; their association has not been reported in the literature. One should consider in differential diagnosis of pentalogy of Cantrell the omphalocele and the body stalk syndrome, and of exencephaly the osteogenesis imperfecta together with disorders of mineralisation.