Early antenatal diagnosis of spina bifida presenting with a “step” in the posterior contour of an 8-week embryo
✍ Scribed by Chander Lulla; Amogh Hegde; Jatin Shah; Jayesh Sheth
- Publisher
- John Wiley and Sons
- Year
- 2008
- Tongue
- English
- Weight
- 135 KB
- Volume
- 36
- Category
- Article
- ISSN
- 0091-2751
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✦ Synopsis
Abstract
We report a case of spina bifida in the upper thoracic spine with an accompanying meningocoele suspected at 8 weeks' gestation via transvaginal sonography and confirmed at 13 weeks' gestation via 3‐dimensional sonography. The fetal cranial vault and intracranial structures were normal. The only finding in the 8‐week sonogram was a subtle angulation or “step” in the posterior contour of the embryo; this may be attributed to kyphosis, which often accompanies this condition. The presence of a “step” in the fetal contour must alert the sonologist to the possibility of spina bifida. To our knowledge, this is the earliest antenatal diagnosis of spina bifida. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Clin Ultrasound, 2008