OBJECTIVES To examine the prevalence of alobar holoprosencephaly, exomphalos, megacystis and nuchal translucency thickness (NT) ≥ 3.5 mm, the incidence and types of chromosomal abnormalities associated with these conditions and their overall impact on the rate of invasive testing and performance of screening at 11-14 weeks. METHODS This was a prospective screening study for trisomies 21, 18 a...

BACKGROUND Newborns with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) or right heart syndrome or other malformations with a single ventricle physiology and associated hypoplasia of the great arteries continue to be a challenge in terms of survival. The vast majority of these forms of congenital heart defects relate to abnormal morphogenesis during early intrauterine development and can be diagnosed a...

OBJECTIVE To assess the diagnostic efficacy of the first-trimester anomaly scan including first-trimester fetal echocardiography as a screening procedure in a 'medium-risk' population. METHODS In a prospective study, we evaluated 3094 consecutive fetuses with a crown-rump length (CRL) of 45-84 mm and gestational age between 11 + 0 and 13 + 6 weeks, using transabdominal and transvaginal ultras...

PURPOSE Medication use during pregnancy is common and increasing. Women are also increasingly getting healthcare information from sources other than their physicians. METHODS This report summarizes an environmental scan that identified 25 active Internet sites that list medications reported to be safe for use in pregnancy and highlights the inadequate evidence base and inconsistent guidance p...

OBJECTIVE To assess the role of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the prenatal diagnosis of neural tube defects (NTDs). BACKGROUND NTDs comprise a heterogeneous group of congenital anomalies that derive from the failure of the neural tube to close. Advances in ultrasonography and MRI have considerably improved the diagnosis and treatment of NTDs both before and after birth. Ultrasonography ...

background: methamphetamine (ma) is a potent psychomotor stimulant with high abuse and addictive potential. ma is a neurotoxic drug which is widely abused by females of childbearing age, raising serious public health concerns in terms of exposure of the fetus to the drug. neurotoxic effects of ma on adult are well known, such as dopaminergic nerve terminal degeneration and cell death in regions...

Spina bifida and anencephaly, the common form of neural tube defects, affect approximately 300 000 newborns each year worldwide. The effectiveness of folic acid supplementation in preventing their occurrence or recurrence has been unambiguous since 1991. In general, the prevalence of these abnormalities has decreased in the past 20 to 30 years because of periconceptional folate supplementation,...

OBJECTIVE This study was undertaken to evaluate the performance of a 1-stop clinic for first-trimester assessment of risk (OSCAR) for trisomy 21 by a combination of maternal age, fetal nuchal translucency (NT) thickness, and maternal serum-free ss- human chorionic gonadotrophin (hCG) and pregnancy-associated plasma protein-A (PAPP-A). STUDY DESIGN OSCAR was carried out in 30,564 pregnancies a...