JUM
HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced]


     

This Article
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrow reprints & permissions
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Doubilet, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Chow, J. S.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Doubilet, P. M.
Right arrow Articles by Chow, J. S.

Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine, Vol 18, Issue 8 537-541, Copyright © 1999 by American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine

JOURNAL ARTICLE

Long-term prognosis of pregnancies complicated by slow embryonic heart rates in the early first trimester

P. M. Doubilet, C. B. Benson and J. S. Chow
Department of Radiology, Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.

Slow embryonic heart rates at gestational age 7 weeks or less are associated with high risk of first trimester death. Our goal was to determine the prognosis for those embryos with slow early heart rates who survive the first trimester. We prospectively recorded embryonic heart rates for all obstetrical sonograms obtained on singleton pregnancies at or before 7.0 weeks' gestation since 1993. We collected information about pregnancy outcome, including date of live birth or in utero death and presence and nature of congenital anomalies. First trimester survival rate was 61.6% among 531 embryos with slow early heart rates (< 100 bpm at < or = 6.2 weeks, < 120 bpm at 6.3 to 7.0 weeks), lower than the survival rate of 91.5% among 1501 embryos with normal heart rates (p < 10(-8), Fisher's exact test). Among 299 pregnancies in which the early heart rate was slow and the fetus was still alive at the end of the first trimester, 277 (92.6%) resulted in liveborn infants without congenital anomalies, similar to the frequency of 95.1% in cases with normal early heart rates (p > 0.10, Fisher's exact test). Structural and chromosomal anomalies, however, occurred more than twice as frequently in cases with slow early heart rates: 5.4% (16 of 299) of the first trimester survivors with slow early heart rates proved to have anomalies, as compared to 2.4% (31 of 1281) of cases with normal early heart rates (p < 0.05, Fisher's exact test). In conclusion, a pregnancy in which the embryo has a slow heart rate at or before 7.0 weeks' gestation and which continues beyond the first trimester has a high likelihood (> 90%) of resulting in a liveborn neonate without congenital anomalies. Embryos with slow early heart rates do, however, have a greater risk of having anomalies than embryos with normal early heart rates.


This article has been cited by other articles:


Home page
 Hum ReprodHome page
A. Yin, E.H.Y. Ng, X. Zhang, Y. He, J. Wu, and K.Y. Leung
Correlation of maternal plasma total cell-free DNA and fetal DNA levels with short term outcome of first-trimester vaginal bleeding
Hum. Reprod., June 1, 2007; 22(6): 1736 - 1743.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 RadiologyHome page
P. M. Doubilet and C. B. Benson
Outcome of First-Trimester Pregnancies with Slow Embryonic Heart Rate at 6-7 Weeks Gestation and Normal Heart Rate by 8 Weeks at US
Radiology, August 1, 2005; 236(2): 643 - 646.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Home page
 Am. J. Roentgenol.Home page
P. M. Doubilet, C. B. Benson, and J. S. Chow
Outcome of Pregnancies with Rapid Embryonic Heart Rates in the Early First Trimester
Am. J. Roentgenol., July 1, 2000; 175(1): 67 - 69.
[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]


HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS
Copyright © 1999 by the American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine.