Prenatal detection of congenital heart disease with fetal echocardiography in Saudi Arabia: Systemic Review

Objectives: To evaluate the clinical value of color doppler echocardiography for the diagnosis of fetal congenital heart disease (CHD) included in routine obstetric care which provides relevant information for decision making, detailed anatomic survey performed at skilled, high‐volume obstetric centers, and to investigate the technical limitations of fetal echocardiography in this patient population. Methods: This was a retrospective descriptive review of fetal echocardiograms performed at Children’s Hospital Riyadh from (2010-2017). All women referred during the second trimester for fetal echocardiography because of maternal diabetes were included. Those with severe heart disease suspected on obstetric ultrasound examination were excluded. Results: There were 313 initial fetal echocardiograms. Forty three patients were diagnosed with multiple heart diseases, 32 patients were diagnosed with suspected mild heart disease (such as small ventricular septal defect), of which 8 patients had normal follow up study. Of 150 patients who had normal follow‐up fetal evaluation, 33 patients had severe CHD, 2 patients had IDDM (diabetes). Most of these pregnancies did not have a postnatal cardia