Contemporary Outcomes of Patients with Isolated Bilateral Renal Agenesis with and without Fetal Intervention

Abstract

Introduction: Bilateral renal agenesis (BRA) is a lethal diagnosis, specifically meaning that natural survival beyond birth is not expected secondary to pulmonary hypoplasia. Limited contemporary data are available about intervention and the impact of restoring amniotic fluid volume in relation to the risk for lethal pulmonary hypoplasia and other factors that might influence survival in cases of fetal BRA.

Objective: We report the largest series of patients undergoing fetal intervention and postnatal care for BRA at a single comprehensive fetal center.

Methods: All patients with fetal BRA were reviewed from January 2004 to November 2017. Maternal and neonatal data were collected in an institutional review board-approved retrospective review.

Results: From 2014 to 2017, 20 singleton pregnancies with isolated fetal BRA were evaluated and 14 had amnioinfusion. Eight had serial infusions. Of those, there were 6 neonatal deaths. There were 2 neonatal survivors beyond 30 days; however, both died of sepsis on dialysis. One of these survivors received amnioinfusions by percutaneous approach and one via amnioport. There were no survivors to transplantation.

Conclusion: Fetal intervention via amnioinfusion may promote pulmonary survivorship after birth, but postnatal survival remains poor. Future studies must place an emphasis on standardizing the postnatal approach to this patient population.

Keywords: Amnioinfusion; Bilateral renal agenesis; Fetal therapy; Oligohydramnios.