Kurkevych A. Prenatal Ultrasound Diagnosis of Critical Congenital Heart Diseases

This thesis studies the potential of prenatal diagnostics in critical congenital heart diseases, which appear to be the main problem in pediatric cardiology due to necessity of urgent transportation of newborns to cardiosurgical center in the first days of life for provision of timely aid, and the influence of prenatal diagnosis on perinatal management and neonatal cardiosurgical operations. The study is based on 292 cases of fetal observations during the period of 2004-2009, in which critical CHDs were diagnosed on prenatal and early postnatal stages. Efficacy of the method for critical CHD diagnosis was analyzed before and after the implementation of the protocol for ultrasound examination of fetal cardiovascular system in 2008. The algorithm of perinatal management of fetuses with diagnosed critical CHD was proved. The influence of prenatal diagnosis on changes in perinatal tactics and neonatal cardiosurgical assistance was studied.