CLINICAL AND ULTRASONOGRAPHIC FEATURES OF DEXTROPOSITION OF THE FETALHEART

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to characterize the findings associated wit h dextroposition of the fetal heart. STUDY DESIGN: A fetal echocardiog raphy database was retrospectively searched from January 1990 through December 1996 to identify all cases referred or diagnosed with dextrop osition of the fetal heart. Dextroposition was defined as most of the normally connected fetal heart found on the right side of the fetal ch est. Intracardiac and extracardiac fetal anomalies were reviewed. All available karyotypes and postnatal examinations were reviewed. RESULTS : During the study period 2882 fetal echocardiograms were performed, o f which 297 (10.3%) were abnormal. Of these, 14 had dextroposition. As sociated anomalies included atrioventricular canal (29%), diaphragmati c hernia (21%), and aneuploidy (14%). isolated dextroposition with no other significant anomalies was seen in only 1 case. In another, no an omalies were noted except for suspected agenesis of 1 robe of the righ t lung; karyotype and postnatal evaluation revealed no other abnormali ties in both cases. CONCLUSIONS: Dextroposition of the fetal heart was seen in 0.5% of our fetal echocardiograms and was associated with sig nificant anomalies in 86% of our cases. When diagnosed, a targeted ult rasonogram, fetal echocardiogram, and karyotype should be offered.