[Fetal cardiopathy diagnostic approach at Instituto Nacional de Perinatologia].

Background: Congenital prenatal heart disease diagnosis is made by high definition ultrasound within 16 to 20 weeks of pregnancy, and each day more and more early.

Objective: To describe fetal heart disease cases, to evaluate its confirmation thorough post-natal diagnosis and perinatal result, and to establish a diagnose management algorithm.

Material And Method: Cases series of maternal-fetal medicine department at Instituto Nacional de Perinatología, from January 1996 to June 2006. With the presumptive diagnosis, patients were evaluated thorough echocardiography by pediatrician cardiologist without knowing findings of fetal physician. Descriptive statistics was used: frequencies, percents, and central and dispersion trend mean.

Results: Seventy-three cases of diagnosis of fetal heart disease were registered. Mean age was 28 +/- 8 years old. Diabetes was present in 16.4%, and 5.47% had a child with a heart disease. Most frequent defects were Ebstein anomaly (19%), septal defects (20.5%), ventricular-auricular channel (17.8%), and hypoplastic left ventricle (17.8%). Sixty-eight percent of the cases diagnosis was confirmed by post-natal evaluation.

Discussion: It is important to establish right prenatal diagnosis of fetal heart disease, to give accurately advice to parents, perform necessary interventions, and improve fetal and neonatal prognosis.