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Many babies with chromosome problems do not show any signs on ultrasound. Other factors are discussed in counseling include: Mother's age at the expected date of delivery; The results of the Expanded AFP blood triple test; Evidence of other "fetal findings" seen on the ultrasound that suggest a chromosome problem.
Fetal echocardiography, or Fetal echocardiogram, is the name of the test used to diagnose cardiac conditions in the fetal stage. Cardiac defects are amongst the most common birth defects. Their diagnosis is important in the fetal stage as it might help provide an opportunity to plan and manage the baby as and when the baby is born.
The human embryonic heart displays cardiac activity approximately 21 days after fertilization, or five weeks after the last normal menstrual period (LMP), which is the date normally used to date pregnancy in the medical community. The electrical depolarizations that trigger cardiac myocytes to contract arise spontaneously within the myocyte ...
The fetal circulation is composed of the placenta, umbilical blood vessels encapsulated by the umbilical cord, heart and systemic blood vessels. A major difference between the fetal circulation and postnatal circulation is that the lungs are not used during the fetal stage resulting in the presence of shunts to move oxygenated blood and ...
Some resources indicate that there are clear reasons for this and that such scans are also clearly beneficial because ultrasound enables clear clinical advantages for assessing the developing fetus in terms of morphology, bone shape, skeletal features, fetal heart function, volume evaluation, fetal lung maturity, [21] and general fetus well being.
This eventually leads to elevation of pulmonary vascular resistance and increased right ventricular afterload. [26] [27] [28] This fetal cerebral redistribution of blood flow is an early response to placental insufficiency. Blood flow is selectively redirected to the myocardium, adrenal glands, and in particular to the brain in a brain-sparing ...
Thereafter, the cardiac tube begins to fold, developing into the atrium and ventricle. The right ventricle is dominant prior to birth, receiving 65% of the venous return to the heart, and is the main contributor of blood flow to the lower part of the body, the placenta, and the lungs.
When the baby is born, the lungs are needed for oxygen transfer and need high blood flow which is encouraged by low PVR. The failure of the circulatory system of the newborn to adapt to these changes by lowering PVR leads to persistent fetal circulation. [2] The newborn is therefore born with elevated PVR, which leads to pulmonary hypertension.