Screening for fetal anomalies in the 12th week of pregnancy by transvaginal sonography in an unselected population

Abstract

The advantages and limitations of transvaginal (TV) sonography in detecting fetal anomalies in the 12th week of pregnancy were examined in a prospective screening study of an unselected population. During a 3-year period, 3991 examinations were performed and 35 fetuses were identified as having 43 anomalies (0.9 per cent). Most of these malformations were either severe structural disorders or isolated nuchal changes when karyotyping revealed chromosomal aberration in six cases. Twenty-one pregnancies were terminated and three fetuses died. Routine transabdominal (TA) ultrasonographic examinations were performed at 18 and 30 weeks in all those pregnancies where the TV scan had not found fetal anomalies. TA sonography identified 19 abnormal fetuses and ten cases remained undetected. TV sonography detected 51 per cent of malformed fetuses which were diagnosed prenatally (not including cases with nuchal oedema) and 41 per cent of the total were found in this study. Besides offering the possibility of early termination, first trimester screening has the advantage of identifying a transient sonographic sign, nuchal oedema, which can be used as a marker in screening for fetal chromosomal abnormalities. However, standard mid-second-trimester TA scanning is still recommended, since a significant number of malformations cannot be detected so early in pregnancy.