Advanced Ultrasound in Diagnosis and Therapy ›› 2018, Vol. 2 ›› Issue (2): 123-127.doi: 10.37015/AUDT.2018.180810

• Original Research • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Ultrasound Measurement of Aortic Diameter at the Diaphragmatic Hiatus in Normal and Congenital Heart Disease Fetuses

Zhongshan Gou, MDa, Xinxin Yan, MDb, Jianfang Ma, MDa, Qi Pan, MDa, Zhong Yang, MDa, Xuedong Deng. MDa,*()   

  1. a Department of Ultrasonography
    b Department of Pharmacy, Suzhou Hospital Affiliated to Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou, China
  • Received:2018-04-28 Online:2018-08-18 Published:2018-08-19
  • Contact: Xuedong Deng. MD, E-mail:13962112038@163.com

Abstract:

Objectives: The size of cardiovascular structures in fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD) is variable, and current reference structures used for comparative purposes are suboptimal: There are no known cardiovascular structures that are reliably normal in size. We sought to evaluate whether the aortic diameter at the diaphragmatic hiatus (ADDH) is affected in CHD.
Methods: The ADDH was evaluated by sonography in both study subjects (CHD group, n = 506) and age-matched normal controls (normal group, n = 506). The CHD group was divided into different subgroups according to evident anomalies in the cardiovascular system. ADDH differences between CHD subgroups and their controls were calculated with a paired Student's t-test. Possible sex differences were determined by an unpaired Student's t-test on the whole group.
Results: There were no significant differences in the ADDH between all CHD subgroups and age-matched controls (p > 0.05). No difference was found in the ADDH between female and male fetuses (p > 0.05).
Conclusion: The ADDH in fetuses with CHD is similar to that in controls. Hence, ratios between size of involved cardiovascular structures and ADDH may be a useful parameter for monitoring fetuses with CHD .

Key words: Ultrasound; Aortic diameter; Diaphragmatic hiatus; Congenital heart disease