Fetal idiopathic right atrial dilatation should not be dismissed as physiological, as it may be a prodrome for life-threatening arrhythmias like WPW and sudden infant death syndrome.
The authors describe a case of fetal isolated right atrial enlargement or IDRA (idiopathic dilatations of the right atrium) evident in third trimester, complicated by arrhythmia in the female infant during the 1° month of life with ECG diagnosis of Wolf-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW). The eldest sister died at 6 years because of an arrhythmia with the same diagnosis of WPW. The review of the literature on IDRA frequently shows a familial genetic aggregation. The pathogenetic mechanism underlying the dilation of the right atrium could consist of a myopathy or electrical conduction disorder. The exclusive involvement of the right atrium may be due to the increased pressure in the fetal right atrium. On the basis of our case and after review of the literature, we must be careful in defining as physiological the enlargement of the right fetal atrium in the third trimester of pregnancy. The ultrasound sign of IDRA may be a fetal prodrome of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome).
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Stabile et al. (2023) studied this question.
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