BACKGROUND Fetal tachycardia may cause hydrops fetalis and lead to fetal death. No unanimity of opinion exists regarding the optimum treatment. This study evaluates our experience with transplacental sotalol therapy to treat fetal tachycardias in terms of safety and efficacy. METHODS AND RESULTS The charts of 21 patients who were treated with sotalol for fetal tachycardia were reviewed. Ten f...

The adrenal and renal responses to similar increases in plasma angiotensin II (All) were studied in chronically catheterized fetal lambs (112-131 days gestation; term 145 days) and adult nonpregnant sheep. The rate of All infusion was adjusted to compare the effect of similar rises in plasma AH concentration between fetuses and adult ewes. Increases in plasma All were associated with a decrease...

Electrocardiogram (ECG) electrodes and carotid arterial and superior vena caval (SVC) catheters were placed in eight nonpregnant ewes and 11 fetuses (109-129 days gestation) to measure heart rate, arterial presssure, P-R interval, left ventricular pre-ejection period (PEP), and left ventricular ejection time (LVET), before and after digoxin infusion into the SVC. After the ewes were killed, the...

The clinical course and outcome of 55 fetuses with complete atrioventricular (AV) block detected prenatally were studied to identify factors that affect the natural history of this lesion. In 29 fetuses (53%) complete AV block was associated with complex structural heart defects, usually left atrial isomerism (n = 17) or discordant AV connection (n = 7). The other 26 fetuses had normal cardiac ...

OBJECTIVE To investigate the incidence of aneuploidy in fetuses with congenital heart defects (CHDs) and to further identify submicroscopic changes and global DNA methylation levels as potential biomarkers in complex CHD cases. METHODS Fetuses at high risk for birth defects or with obvious sonographic anomalies were recruited at the Prenatal Diagnosis Center and Ultrasonic Diagnosis Center. E...

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) has been associated with adverse developmental outcome, including embryonic resorption, fetal death and growth retardation, and preterm delivery. In the present study, we showed that an ip injection with LPS daily from gestational day (gd) 8 to gd 12 resulted in the incidence of external malformations. The highest incidence of malformed fetuses was observed in fetuses f...

Ninety fetal Doppler echocardiographic examinations were performed on 72 normal fetuses and 5 with congenital heart disease [2 pulmonary stenosis (PS), 1 pulmonary atresia (PA), 1 tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) and 1 endocardial cushion defect (ECD)] at 16 to 40 weeks of gestational age. The maximum transmitral (MVMax), transtricuspid (TVMax), transaortic (AVMax) and transpulmonary blood flow veloci...

We investigated the levels of S100 beta protein (S100B) in the serum of fetuses with neural tube defects (NTD), and their mother. Samples from 20 fetuses with NTD and 30 controls at the same gestational age, and their mothers, were studied. S100B protein levels were determined using Lia-mat Sangtec. kit. S100B concentrations were significantly higher in NTD fetuses (median 2.71 microg/L) than i...

Maternal administration of DDAVP induces maternal and fetal plasma hyponatremia, accentuates fetal urine flow, and increases amniotic fluid volume. Fetal hemorrhage represents an acute stress that results in fetal AVP secretion and reduced urine flow rate. In view of the potential therapeutic use of DDAVP for pregnancies with reduced amniotic fluid volume, we sought to examine the impact of mat...

BACKGROUND Children with major congenital heart defects are risking impaired cerebral growth, delayed cerebral maturation, and neurodevelopmental disorders. We aimed to compare the cerebral tissue oxygenation of fetuses with major heart defects to that of fetuses without heart defects as estimated by the magnetic resonance imaging modality T2*. T2* is low in areas with high concentrations of de...