Why the study?
This study aimed to measure and compare the ejection force across all four cardiac chambers in healthy singleton fetuses and examine its relationship with gestational age, fetal sex, and fetal heart rate.
The right atrium is the dominant chamber in terms of ejection force in the fetal heart during 17-34 weeks of gestation.
Fetal ejection force reference values may inform assessment; hypothesis-generating, requires prospective validation before clinical adoption.
Background/Aim: This study aimed to measure and compare the ejection force of the cardiac chambers in healthy singleton fetuses and to investigate the relationship of ejection force of cardiac chambers with gestational age, fetal sex, and fetal heart rate. Patients and Methods: A prospective study was performed on 68 singleton fetuses with a gestational age of 17–34 weeks. Atrial and ventricular ejection force was measured. Measurements were repeated in 18 of the fetuses to assess intraobserver reliability. Results: The right atrium had the highest ejection force of all the cardiac chambers. Ejection force of both atria and ventricles increased with gestational age. Conclusion: The right atrium is the dominant chamber of the fetal heart in 17–34 weeks of gestation. Comparison of our values with previous studies indicates that left atrial ejection force almost doubles in the 1st month after birth. This study highlights the crucial role of the right atrium in the fetal cardiac function during 17–34 weeks of gestation.
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Rad et al. (2019) studied this question.
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