Echocardiography of the human fetal heart: Estimation of growth and function in utero

SummaryM-mode echocardiographic studies on 110 human fetuses at 18 to 40 weeks of pregnancy were carried out on Japanese women with a regular menstrual cycle and no complications of pregnancy, in order to evaluate the growth and function of the fetal heart. High correlations of fetal cardiac transverse diameter with the gestational age (r = 0˙93, P < 0˙001), and also with the biparietal diameter(r = 0˙93, p < 0˙001) were noted. Left ventricular diastolic dimension correlated well with the gestational age (r = 0˙69, P < 0˙001), as did left ventricular systolic dimension (r = 0˙64, p < 0˙001). A negative correlation between the left ventricular ejection fraction and gestational age was evident (r = 0˙31, 0˙01 <p <0˙02). The regression curve derived from the data for left ventricular stroke volume (y) and the gestational age (x) was log10y/(2025-y) = 0˙19(x-30˙7). A paradoxical interventricular septal motion was noted in many cases (62 per cent). Prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart anomalies is feasible using two-dimensional and M-mode echocardiography.