FIRST-TRIMESTER FETAL HEART-RATE - RESPONSE TO CHORIONIC VILLUS SAMPLING IN THE CHROMOSOMALLY NORMAL FETUS

The objective of this prospective study was to evaluate the fetal hear t rate before and after the procedure and whether this had any effect on the risk of pregnancy loss following chorionic villus sampling (CVS ) and chromosomally normal pregnancies, Four hundred and seventeen pre gnancies were evaluated, The heart rate before the procedure was simil ar for both male and female fetuses. Significant procedure-related cha nges in fetal heart rate occurred only with male fetuses undergoing th e transabdominal CVS technique, Fetal heart rate decelerations followi ng CVS were more common than accelerations. Fetal heart rate changes f ollowing CVS were not able to predict the pregnancies ending in sponta neous abortion, Transabdominal CVS had a lower loss rate after the pro cedure, compared to the transcervical technique (p = 0.0001). Small-fo r-date fetuses had a higher loss rate after the procedure compared to normal-sized fetuses (p = 0.001).