The influence of prenatal ultrasound on the prevalence of congenital anomalies at birth

✍ Scribed by Etan Z. Zimmer; Z. Avraham; P. Sujoy; I. Goldstein; M. Bronshtein

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 159 KB
• Volume: 17
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0197-3851
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1097-0223(199707)17:7<623::aid-pd123>3.0.co;2-j

✦ Synopsis

The objectives of the study were (1) to assess whether prenatal ultrasound examinations affected the prevalence of congenital anomalies at birth and the incidence of terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies and (2) to examine the detection rate of the main fetal anomalies. We studied all births and stillbirths with congenital defects, and all terminations of pregnancy for fetal anomalies in the Rambam Medical Center during a 5-year period (1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993) and correlated them to ultrasound findings. There were 23 439 births during the study period. The incidence of newborns with anomalies decreased from 1•95 to 1•34 per cent (P<0•01). The incidence of termination of pregnancy because of fetal anomalies increased from 0•35 to 0•83 per cent (P<0•003) and the detection rate of malformations increased from 53•94 to 79•60 per cent (P<0•001). It is concluded that terminations of pregnancy after ultrasound detection of fetal anomalies had an impact on the prevalence of anomalies in newborns. There was also continuing significant improvement in the detection rate of ultrasound examinations. 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.