Abstract
Background: Congenital heart disease (CHD) is of the most common congenital anomalies. Most of the major cardiac defects can be diagnosed by fetal echocardiography at 20 weeks of gestation. Evaluation of nuchal thickness can be the first stage of screening in the diagnosis of CHD. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the relationship between nuchal translucency (NT) and CHD in pregnant women.
Materials and Methods: The current study is an analytical-descriptive study conducted on fetuses of 44 pregnant women. Abdominal sonography of the participants at 10-14 weeks of gestation was performed, and they referred to a pediatric hospital in Bandar Abbas in order to undergo fetal echocardiography at 17-18 weeks of gestation.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 28±6 years. Out of 44 pregnant women, fetal heart disease was diagnosed in 4 pregnancies (9%), one of whom was reported as 2.5≤NT<3.5 and three cases were reported as 3.5≤NT. Out of 40 women with no fetal heart disease, two cases had NT≥3.5, 12 cases had 2.5≤NT<3.5 and 26 cases had NT>2.5.
Conclusion: The results of this study showed that 6.8% of the cases of CHD had an increase in the thickness of NT (NT≥3.5) at 10-14 weeks of gestation. The sensitivity of this screening method was 75% at 18-20 weeks of gestation which is low for general population. Therefore, NT cannot be regarded as the only or main screening tool for CHD.