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Outcome of isolated fetal pericardial effusion

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 August 2008

Jonathan P. Wyllie  and
Stewart Hunter
Jonathan P. Wyllie
Affiliation:
From the Department of Paediatric Cardiology, Freeman Hospital, High Heaton, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
Stewart Hunter*
Affiliation:
From the Department of Paediatric Cardiology, Freeman Hospital, High Heaton, Newcastle-Upon-Tyne
*
Correspondence to Dr. Stewart Hunter, Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Freeman Hospital, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, NE7 7DN, United Kingdom. Tel. 091 284 3111; Fax. 091 213 1968.
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Summary

Isolated fetal pericardial effusion is generally held to have a good prognosis. We report a study of seven cases identified from a total of 504 fetuses scanned and followed with serial fetal scans.Our results show that it was associated with a poor fetal prognosis in six of the seven pregnancies. Probably due to the high incidence of mid-trimester abortion and the association with other abnormalities only evident postnatally, this has not, hitherto, been reported. We would advocate close follow-up and a guarded prognosis when isolated pericardial effusions are found on fetal scans.

Keywords

Fetal echocardiographypericardial effusion
Type
Original Articles
Information
Cardiology in the Young , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , April 1993 , pp. 144 - 146
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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