Prenatal Ultrasound Diagnosis of Fetal Arteriovenous Malformations

Abstract

Background Fetal arteriovenous malformations may occur in all parts of the body and are mainly diagnosed by color Doppler ultrasound. However, there are few reports at home and abroad on the types of arteriovenous shunts explored by prenatal ultrasound. Objective To investigate the diagnosis value of prenatal ultrasonography in fetal arteriovenous malformation. Methods Pregnant women with fetal arteriovenous malformations who underwent prenatal ultrasound screening in the Department of Ultrasound, Changsha Hospital for Maternal and Child Health Care from August 2013 to August 2021 were recruited. Color Doppler ultrasonography was used for fetal systematical ultrasound screening. The location, size, shape, and internal echoes of fetal arteriovenous malformation lesions were detected and described. The ultrasonographic features and types of arteriovenous malformations in different parts of patients were analyzed, and the results of follow-up were tracked. Results Prenatal ultrasound screening in this study identified sixteen cases with fetal arteriovenous malformations, of which six lesions were located in the fetal sacrococcygeal region (diagnosed as sacrococcygeal teratoma) , four were located in the fetal intracranial region (including three intracranial cranberg hemangiomas with Galen's vein tumors, one Galen's vein tumor) , three were located in the fetal limbs, soft tissues (including one Parkes Weber syndrome, two soft tissue hemangiomas) , two were located in fetal liver (diagnosed as hepatic arteriovenous fistula) and one was located in fetal lung (diagnosed as isolated lung with pulmonary arteriovenous fistula) . Arteriovenous malformation typing: 10 patients had simple type Ⅱ (10/16) , 3 patients had both type Ⅱ and type Ⅲa (3/16) , 1 patient had type Ⅰ (1/16) , 1 patient had type Ⅳ (1/16) , 1 patient had simple type Ⅲa (1/16) . Follow up showed that 10 induced labor, 3 were lost to follow-up, 2 were born at term and treated surgically, and 1 was stillborn. Conclusion The prognosis of fetal arteriovenous malformation is closely related to the location of lesion and blood flow distribution within the lesion. Prenatal ultrasound can detect a fetus with or without a focus of arteriovenous malformation, which is valuable for diagnosis and prognosis, and can help to detect the potential threat caused by arteriovenous malformation to the fetus.

Keywords

• arteriovenous malformations|prenatal diagnosis|ultrasonography, prenatal|fetus|ultrasonography, doppler, color