Intracardiac echogenic focus and fetal outcome – review of cases from a tertiary care centre in Karachi, Pakistan

Abstract

Objective: To study the outcome in fetuses with intracardiac echogenic focus (ICEF) at the time of second trimester scan. Methods: All women with the sonographic findings of ICEF from January 2009 to December 2010 were included in this retrospective study. Results: ICEF were found in 71 out of 8226 screened (0.86%) women. Mean maternal age in the population was 26.9 ± 3.9 years. Foci were the isolated marker in 69 (97%) cases. In two cases there were additional findings of choroid plexus cysts. A fetal echocardiograph was done only in 13 (18.3%) patients. Majority of these pregnancies (95.7%) had a normal outcome. Postnatal echocardiograph was performed in 11 neonates (15%) out of which one had a small VSD, and in another case Tetralogy of Fallot was found. In addition, Pulmonary artery hypertension was diagnosed in one case. There was one intrauterine fetal demise and two neonatal deaths in this cohort. Conclusions: The prevalence of ICEF was 0.86% in our study population. About 95.77% of these cases had an uncomplicated perinatal outcome. It was an isolated finding in almost all cases. These findings will be helpful in counseling parents in our setting.

Keywords::

• Cardiac defects
• fetal echocardiography
• ultrasound
• second trimester scan
• soft tissue marker

Declaration of Interest: The authors report no conflict of interest