First Trimester Prenatal Diagnosis of a Conotruncal Anomaly Using Spatiotemporal Image Correlation Imaging Confirmed by Conventional Autopsy

Abstract

Background

Fetal echocardiography continues to be the first line investigation for detecting congenital heart diseases (CHD). As accurate and complete diagnosis of complex heart disease is often difficult in the first trimester due to small size of the fetal heart, confirmation/expanded description by fetopsy provides the best information for accurate counseling for future pregnancies. Although non invasive fetal autopsy alternatives have been investigated with favorable results, conventional autopsy remains the gold standard procedure used to confirm the fetal abnormalities. Case report: We describe a conotruncal anomaly diagnosed at 12 weeks gestation using spatiotemporal image. The fetopsy confirmed the diagnosis of Type I Truncus arteriosus. Conclusion: Four-dimensional STIC imaging provides incremental benefits in evaluation of fetal cardiac anomalies, and confirmation by autopsy findings allows further refinement of the diagnosis.

Keywords:

• Fetus
• first trimester
• Truncus arteriosus
• spatiotemporal image correlation imaging
• conventional autopsy

Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Prof. Dr. Balu Vaidyanathan MD., DM, Fetal Cardiologist at Amrita institute of Medical sciences for reviewing this manuscript.

Ethical approval

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained as per our hospital policy before autopsy from the parents

Conflicts of interest

The authors report no conflicts of interest