In other conditions associated with placental oedema-such as the fetofetal transfusion syndrome, and hydrops fetalis due to rhesus isoimmunisation or congenital syphilis-low levels of the maternally synthesised immunoglobulin IgG have been found in the cord bloods of the infants.7 8 These findings suggest that placental transfer ofIgG is also reduced. We, like Chiang and Wei,7 found that the co...

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...

Seven fetuses with idiopathic hydrops fetalis (IHF) were treated in utero by injecting albumin into the fetal abdominal cavity and by removal of accumulated fluid from the serous cavities. Signs of hydrops fetalis disappeared in utero in one, and skin edema significantly decreased in another. In the other five, signs of hydrops fetalis remained unchanged in utero. The hourly fetal urine product...

BACKGROUND Fetal tachycardia complicated by ventricular dysfunction and hydrops fetalis carries a significant risk of morbidity and mortality. Transplacental digoxin is effective therapy in a small percentage, but there is no consensus with regard to antiarrhythmic treatment if digoxin fails. This study evaluates the safety, efficacy, and outcome of amiodarone therapy for digoxin-refractory fet...

Fetal cardiac function has been shown to be a marker of disease severity in many conditions, including intrauterine growth restriction, congenital heart defects or disease (CHD), twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, idiopathic hydrops, fetal arrhythmias, and others. It is often targeted for evaluation of patient management, for providing complete and accurate diagnoses in CHD, for patient counsel...

(Abstracted from N Engl J Med 2020;383:1746–1756) Nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF) is a condition complicating approximately 1 in 1700 to 3000 pregnancies where the fetus develops an overload of fluid, causing wide range outcomes such as stillbirth, preterm birth, neonatal complications, or death. Standard genetic testing with microarray karyotype identifies cause only 25% time.

Fetal supraventricular tachycardia may cause congestive heart failure, hydrops fetalis, and intrauterine death. Tachycardia in a fetus of 34 weeks' gestation was diagnosed as atrial flutter by echocardiography, and was successfully treated by giving the mother digoxin.

In Ontario, Canada, beta-thalassemia is easily detected through measurement of hemoglobin A2, but most laboratories do not do exhaustive DNA investigations for alpha-thalassemia. Therefore, the prevalence of thalassemia in microcytic samples for hemoglobinopathy investigation in Ontario is unknown. To address this, we performed a prospective cohort study in which samples referred for hemoglobin...