PRENATAL SONOGRAPHIC DIAGNOSIS OF SINGLE UMBILICAL ARTERY

Purpose. We evaluated the reliability of prenatal sonography and the u sefulness of the umbilical vein and artery diameter ratio, transverse umbilical artery diameter, and systolic-diastolic ratio in detecting s ingle umbilical artery (SUA). Methods. In 24 of 6,970 fetuses, SUA was detected using prenatal sonography and confirmed at birth. These case s were retrospectively reviewed. Results. Four fetuses had major malfo rmations, and 1 had a minor anomaly. Thirteen fetuses with SUA underwe nt chromosomal analysis, and only 2 had abnormal karyotypes. Most of t he SUA fetuses had a normal systolic-diastolic ratio. Conclusions. Our retrospective study determined that the prognosis of SUA fetuses is g ood when there is no concurrent anatomic or chromosomal abnormality. A lthough some reports claim that the transverse umbilical artery diamet er or the ratio between umbilical vein and artery diameters can predic t SUA, we found no significant improvement in the recognition of SUA u sing these parameters. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons, inc.