Relationship between Maternal Serum Calcium and Magnesium Levels and Isolated Fetal Echogenic Intracardiac Focus Encountered During Second-trimester Ultrasound Screening

Abstract

Aim:As a frequent finding of prenatal second trimester ultrasound screening, echogenic intracardiac focus (EIF) may have a relationship with serum calcium and magnesium levels instead of major fetal abnormalities. This study was conducted to assess the relationship between the EIF and serum calcium and magnesium levels in women who had undergone mid-trimester screening ultrasound and had no other soft markers or fetal malformations.Methods:This cross-sectional study was performed in a tertiary center experienced in maternal, fetal, and neonatal care, and included 206 patients who had undergone prenatal screening at 18-25 weeks of pregnancy with isolated EIF or without other laboratory abnormalities from July 2020 to June 2021. Serum calcium and magnesium levels were collected from the electronic health records of our institution.Results:Overall, although there were remarkable changes in some of the clinical characteristics of patients with or without EIF, in general, the study groups were found comparable in terms of these variables. No significant differences were found between the study groups regarding serum calcium and magnesium levels.Conclusions:Serum calcium and magnesium levels did not show a significant increase in cases with EIF. Therefore, measurement of serum calcium and magnesium levels in EIF cases was not found to be explanatory of the cause.

Keywords

• fetal heart
• muscle
• papillary
• ultrasonography
• prenatal
• calcium
• magnesium