Parental reactions to fetal echocardiography

✍ Scribed by Gudrun Björkhem; Connie Jörgensen; Katarina Hanséus

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 100 KB
• Volume: 6
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1057-0802
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-6661(199703/04)6:2<87::aid-mfm4>3.0.co;2-l

✦ Synopsis

The impact of fetal echocardiography (FE) was studied in 65 families where a previous child had been born with heart disease and where FE showed normal cardiac anatomy in the fetus. Forty-six of the families had lost their child with heart disease (Group 1), while the child was alive in 19 of the families (Group 2). A questionnaire concerning the attitude of the parents toward FE was sent to all families. The possibility of having FE had influenced the decision to have another child in 64% in Group 1 and in 26% in Group 2 (P , 0.01). If a serious cardiac malformation had been found at FE, 69% in Group 1 and 29% in Group 2 would have chosen abortion (P , 0.01). The anxiety decreased significantly in both groups after FE. Of the participating mothers, 96% wished FE at the next pregnancy. The study indicates that FE probably is very important to families who had previously had a child with a serious malformation but also that many families intend to continue the pregnancy even if a malformation is diagnosed.