A Study of Incidence of Echogenic Intracardiac Focus in Second Trimester for Diagnosing Down Syndrome

BACKGROUND offers a valuable means of prenatal diagnosis. It can be used not only for obstetric indications such as placental and the diagnosis of multiple pregnancies, but also for prenatal diagnosis of structural abnormalities not associated known chromosomal, biochemical or molecular defects. Ultrasonography is particularly valuable because it is noninvasive conveys no known risk to the foetus or mother. It does, however, require expensive equipment and a skilled, experienced . Sophisticated ultrasonography has resulted in the identification of subtle anomalies in the foetus, the significance of is not always clear. For example, choroid plexus cysts are sometimes seen in the developing cerebral ventricles in midtrimester. Initially, it was thought that these were invariably associated with the foetus having trisomy 18, but in fact they occur in normal foetuses, although if they are very large and do not disappear spontaneously they can be indicative of a abnormality. Increased echogenicity of the foetal bowel has been reported in association with cystic fibrosis. Initial suggested this finding could convey a risk as high as 35%. Earlier it was thought that 10% of the foetuses will have fibrosis, but it is now clear that this risk is probably no greater than 1% to 2%. Novel ultrasonographic findings of this are often called soft markers, and their interpretation must be approached cautiously in the effort to distinguish normal abnormal variation. This study puts in a hardworking effort to find the incidence of presence of EIF in actual confirmed of Down syndrome. AND METHODS study was done in the Department of Radiodiagnosis, Subbaiah Medical College, Shimoga, Karnataka. This study was done September 2014 to April 2016. The study was done using 30 subjects. mean age of the population was found to be 37.28 years and the standard deviation was found to be 1.73 years. The of echogenic intracardiac focus is significantly associated with that of Down Syndrome. was found to be significantly associated and can be a powerful tool in India because it is cheap and also forms the first line diagnosis.