OBJECTIVE: Screening for trisomy 21 by fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness at 11 to 13 + 6 weeks' gestation requires an appropriate examination of the NT. Errors in the assessment of NT may lead to an under- or overestimation of the NT and to incorrect patient-specific risks. In this study ...

BACKGROUND: Fetal cells exfoliate in the uterine cavity during early pregnancy and are a potential source of material for NIPD. AIMS: This study was designed to test the hypothesis that fetal cells obtained from the uterine cervix during the first trimester of pregnancy could be utilized for prenatal diagnosis of ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this series was to determine the sensitivity of ultrasonography in early gestation (UEG) using nuchal translucency (NT) and the 4-chamber view (4CV) in the early diagnosis of congenital heart defects (CHDs). METHODS: This was a retrospective chart review of all patients presenting for UEG between 2002 ...

INTRODUCTION: The performance of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) as a first trimester trisomy 21 marker is hypothesized to improve below 11 weeks, whereas beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) is better after 14 weeks. We audited a model combining early PAPP-A (9-10 weeks) with NT (11-13 weeks and 6 days) and early ...

OBJECTIVE: To describe the outcome of pregnancies with trisomy 2 in cultures of first-trimester chorionic villous samples (CVS) and determine whether amniocentesis is necessary in the management of such cases. METHODS: Cultures of chorionic villi were performed at 11-13 weeks in 37 474 pregnancies. In those with trisomy 2 cells, ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the maternal serum concentration of human placental growth hormone (hPGH) in trisomy 21 and trisomy 18 pregnancies at 11 to 13 weeks of gestation and to examine the possible association between fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness and maternal serum free beta-human chorionic gonadotrophin (beta-hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma ...

Prenatal ultrasound is a powerful tool to detect structural abnormalities associated with the fetuses in trisomy 13 pregnancies. This article provides a comprehensive review of the prenatal sonographic markers of trisomy 13 in the first trimester, including fetal nuchal translucency thickness, fetal heart rate, fetal nasal bone, fetal tricuspid regurgitation, ...

OBJECTIVE: To report our experience with first-trimester sonographic findings in pregnancies complicated by trisomy 18. METHODS: Proven cases of trisomy 18 undergoing sonographic examination between 11 + 0 and 13 + 6 weeks of gestation were retrospectively identified. Information on maternal demographics, prenatal sonographic findings, and chromosomal analysis results was ...

OBJECTIVE: Many studies have shown that an increased nuchal translucency (NT) may be a good marker of fetal heart malformation, but the extent to which NT is suitable for identifying the population at risk remains unclear. We aimed to determine the value of NT measurement and of the presence of ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the independent contribution of ductus venosus (DV) blood flow assessment at 11-14 weeks' gestation to the prediction of congenital heart defects (CHD) in chromosomally normal fetuses, irrespective of the value of the nuchal translucency thickness (NT). METHODS: During a 4-year period, all singleton pregnancies from 11 + ...

BACKGROUND: Fetuses with increased nuchal translucency but apparently normal karyotypes may have small genetic defects that are undetectable by conventional cytogenetic studies. Microarray comparative genomic hybridization (array comparative genomic hybridization) may help prenatal diagnosis by revealing small genetic defects. CASE: A patient presented with a fetus with large nuchal translucency ...

Nuchal translucency (NT) measurement between 11 and 14 weeks' gestation is an undisputed marker for aneuploidies. When conventional karyotyping is normal, enlarged NT is a strong marker for adverse pregnancy outcome, associated with miscarriage, intrauterine death, congenital heart defects, and numerous other structural defects and genetic syndromes. The risk of ...

A combined test performed at the 12th week of gestation enables us to classify the pregnancy as high risk (risk higher than 1:300) or low risk (risk lower than 1:300) for congenital foetal anomalies, with great accuracy of 85 - 90%. According to the available data, the frequency of false ...

PURPOSE: To describe a series of cases of late-onset fetal nuchal translucency in Down syndrome. METHOD: In our practice area, most pregnant women usually undergo 3 different sonographic examinations: a fetal nuchal translucency examination in the 1st trimester and 2 detailed surveys of all fetal organs in the early 2nd ...

OBJECTIVE: Microchimerism has been investigated as a possible contributor to the pathophysiology of preeclampsia. Although trisomy 21 is associated with pronounced microchimerism, it has not been connected with an increased risk of preeclampsia. Our objective was to readdress the relationship between preeclampsia and trisomy 21 in a large population. METHODS: ...

The identification of trisomy mosaicism in the prenatal setting is often shrouded with uncertainty for the genetic counsellor, and more importantly for the parents. The outcomes for these pregnancies may well be normal, but abnormalities and even in utero death are possibilities depending on the chromosomal abnormality and the degree ...

The aim of this study is to (i) directly compare both two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) frontomaxillary facial angle (FMFA) in first trimester, and (ii) to assess the ease with which both may be performed. Both 3D volumes of the fetal head and 2D fetal profiles were collected from 251 ...

The aim of this study was to determine the characteristic features of the umbilical cord morphology in selected cases of intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR): tobacco smoking, pregnancy-induced hypertension and idiopathic IUGR. 136 pregnant women were included in the study - 86 patients with IUGR (IUGR group) and 50 women with ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether the maternal serum concentration of placental protein 13 (PP13) is altered in chromosomally abnormal pregnancies and to examine the potential value of this placental protein in screening for aneuploidies at 11-13 weeks. METHODS: The maternal serum concentration of PP13 at 11-13 weeks was compared in 536 ...

A disintegrin and metalloprotease 12 (ADAM12-S) has previously been reported to be significantly reduced in maternal serum from women with fetal aneuploidy early in the first trimester and to significantly improve the quality of risk assessment for fetal trisomy 21 in prenatal screening. The aim of this study was to ...

We present three cases of trisomy 9 mosaicism diagnosed by amniocentesis with ongoing pregnancies after referral to our center due to fetal abnormalities. Two cases were associated with severe fetal growth restriction (FGR), each of which resulted in an intrauterine fetal demise (IUFD) in the third trimester. The other case ...

In the first trimester the ductus venosus can be easily identified with color Doppler and a ductus venosus waveform can be obtained by pulsed Doppler. At 11-13 weeks the prevalence of abnormal a-wave in the ductus venosus is inversely related to fetal crown-rump length and maternal serum pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A ...

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to investigate the range of fetal NT-proBNP values in normal pregnancy between 20 and 34 weeks of gestation. METHOD: NT-proBNP was measured in 56 fetal blood samples. RESULTS: Mean (+ or - 2 SD) NT-proBNP concentration was 1998 (242-3754) ng/L; a significant decline occurred with advancing gestational ...

Prenatal ultrasound is a powerful tool for the detection of structural abnormalities of fetuses in trisomy 13 pregnancies. This article provides a comprehensive review of the prenatal sonographic features of trisomy 13 fetuses in the second and third trimesters, including cystic hygroma and nuchal edema, congenital heart defects, hydrops fetalis, ...

The objective was to establish whether the risk of trisomies 13, 18, and 21 (Patau, Edwards, and Down syndrome, respectively) in a subsequent pregnancy is raised for women who have had a previous pregnancy with trisomy 13, 18, or 21. Birth defect register data were used to investigate this issue. ...

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether Placental Protein 13 (PP13) could be an additional marker in first trimester screening for aneuploidies. METHODS: To evaluate differences in multiples of the gestation-specific normal median (MoMs), PP13 concentrations were measured in serum samples from Down syndrome, trisomy 18 and 13 affected pregnancies and euploid singleton ...

OBJECTIVE: To re-evaluate in a larger cohort of patients if the maternal serum biochemical markers used in first trimester aneuploidy screening have the same marker distributions in pregnancies with a previous history of aneuploidy compared with those that have no previous history. METHODS: Information related to previous pregnancy history is ...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the measurement of frontomaxillary facial (FMF) angle at 11 weeks to 13 weeks, 6 days in a Chinese population and its applicability in the screening for fetal trisomy 21. METHOD: In a retrospective study, the stored images for the measurement of fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness in ...

We offered a modified stepwise sequential integrated screening for Down syndrome to 72 singleton and 16 twin pregnancies obtained with assisted reproductive techniques, observing no cases of trisomy 21 and obtaining a false positive rate of 10% in singleton and 7% in twin pregnancies. In our population, this approach for ...

BACKGROUND: Current risk calculations for trisomy 21, which are based on multiples of median (MoM), do not take into account possible differences between euploid and trisomy 21 pregnancies that may develop with gestational age. In order to optimize the predictive value of screening tests, we calculated the ratio between maternal ...

Trisomy 21 is the most common chromosomal abnormality among persons with intellectual disability, with a live birth rate of 1 in 800-1,000. As such, this abnormality may serve as a model for human disorders that result from supernumerary copies of a genomic region. Down syndrome carries an increased risk of ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the clinical implications of two categories of fetal bilateral cleft lip and palate (BCLP): with premaxillary protrusion and with a flattened profile. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of fetuses with a prenatal diagnosis of BCLP at the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology of the University of ...

To estimate the sensitivity of nuchal-translucency measurement and compare it with that of second-trimester serum screening using population-based data and to evaluate the effect of nuchal-translucency measurement on the gestational age at prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome and pregnancy termination. We used The Paris Registry of Congenital Malformation data on ...

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to analyze humeral length (HL) in a normal population and to compare that with HL in a population of fetuses with trisomy 21 to determine the most efficient discriminating parameters for diagnostic accuracy. METHODS: A nested case-control study comparing HLs from a normal ...

Prenatal ultrasound is a powerful tool for detecting structural abnormalities in fetuses in trisomy 13 pregnancies. This article provides a comprehensive review of the prenatal sonographic features of trisomy 13 in the second and third trimesters, including holoprosencephaly, brachycephaly, microcephaly, Dandy-Walker complex and posterior fossa abnormalities, ventriculomegaly, neural tube defects, ...

Prenatal ultrasound is a powerful tool for detecting structural abnormalities in fetuses in trisomy 13 pregnancies. This article provides a comprehensive review of the prenatal sonographic features of trisomy 13, including the major structural abnormalities observed during the first trimester (omphalocele, holoprosencephaly, megacystis and congenital heart defects), the frequencies of ...

In this overview the current knowledge of the relationship between an increased nuchal translucency (NT) measurement and fetal heart structure and function in chromosomally normal fetuses is reviewed. Relevant pathophysiological theories behind the increased NT are discussed. Fetuses with an increased NT have an increased risk for congenital heart disease ...

We offered a modified stepwise sequential integrated screening for Down syndrome to 72 singleton and 16 twin pregnancies obtained with assisted reproductive techniques, observing no cases of trisomy 21 and obtaining a false positive rate of 10% in singleton and 7% in twin pregnancies. In our population, this approach for ...

OBJECTIVES: To determine reference ranges of fetal nasal bone length (NBL) in a Chinese population and to assess the value of NBL measurement in screening for chromosomal defects in the first trimester. METHODS: In this prospective study the fetal profile was examined and the fetal NBL and crown-rump length (CRL) ...

OBJECTIVE: To examine the performance of the new algorithm in screening for trisomy 21 by a combination of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency (NT) and maternal serum free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (beta-hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A). METHODS: This was a prospective screening study for trisomy 21 in singleton pregnancies ...

BACKGROUND: Screening for fetal chromosome abnormalities in the first trimester includes analysis of the serological markers pregnancy-associated plasma protein A (PAPP-A) and free beta human choriogonadotropin (free beta hCG). The blood sample is traditionally taken around week 12 of gestation, but the performance of earlier blood sampling is not well ...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate if fetal sex has an impact on 1st trimester combined screening for aenuploidy. METHODS: We studied the first trimester PAPP-A, free beta-human chorionic gonadatropin (beta-hCG) and nuchal translucency levels in 56,024 normal, singleton pregnancies with known fetal sex at birth. We also examined the distributions in 722 ...

OBJECTIVES: To examine the effect of deviations in median nuchal translucency thickness (NT) and the spread in measurements on the performance of screening for trisomy 21 by maternal age and fetal NT, and by maternal age, fetal NT and maternal serum biochemistry. METHODS: We simulated the NT and multiples of ...

OBJECTIVE: Evaluating the correlation between the nuchal translucency (NT) measurement throughout its range of values independent of gestational age, and adverse pregnancy outcome: in euploid structurally normal fetuses. METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted in which NT measurements were made in consecutive singleton euploid fetuses derived from an unselected ...

BACKGROUND: The Ljungan virus (LV) has been shown to cause central nervous system malformations in laboratory mouse models. The LV has also been associated with intrauterine fetal death in humans. We investigated the presence of LV in a series of human hydrocephaly and anencephaly cases from elective abortions. METHODS: A ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the performance of first-trimester screening for aneuploidies by including assessment of ductus venosus flow in the combined test of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency thickness, fetal heart rate, and serum free beta-human chorionic gonadotropin and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A. METHODS: Screening by the combined test was performed in ...

We report a case of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome associated with fetal trisomy 21. A primigravida presented at 17 1/7 weeks of gestation with abdominal pain because of enlarged ovaries. Multiple fetal abnormalities were seen on pregnancy ultrasound. Fetal trisomy 21 was diagnosed by amniocentesis. The patient's human chorionic gonadotropin level ...

OBJECTIVES: Low maternal serum levels of pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A) are associated with both increased risk of aneuploidies and impaired trophoblastic invasion, while high uterine artery (UtA) resistance is associated with impaired trophoblastic invasion but not with an increased risk of aneuploidies. The aim of this study was to determine ...

OBJECTIVES: To investigate the potential value of maternal serum placental growth factor (PlGF) in first-trimester screening for trisomy 21 and other major chromosomal abnormalities. METHODS: The maternal serum concentration of PlGF at 11 + 0 to 13 + 6 weeks was measured in 609 euploid and 175 chromosomally abnormal pregnancies, ...

Ultrasound examination of the foetal cranium can diagnose fetal cranial defects and abnormal skull shape and it's aim is to detect in prenatal age most various abnormalities of the skull, brain and foetal face. The changes of each of these components frequently determine the growth of the other two.The abnormalities ...