Prenatal Sonographic Diagnosis of Ventral Abdominal Wall Defects : Case Series Report

Abstract

Fetal ventral abdominal wall defects require prenatal diagnosis for proper management. To evaluate the role of prenatal sonography in identifying characteristics of each type of defect, 12 cases were prospectively collected and followed. They consisted of 3 body stalk anomaly, 4 gastroschisis and 5 omphalocele. All of them were sonographically diagnosed with no false positive. All body stalk anomalies were uniformly fatal, 3 of the 4 gastroschisis and only 1 of the 5 omphalocele survived. All of the body stalk abnomal cases and 4 of the 5 omphalocele had other associated anomalies but there were none in the cases of gastroschisis. Better prognosis for neonates with gastroschisis appears to reflect the lower frequency of associated congenital anomalies and severity of the defect. (Thai J Obstet Gynaecol 1992;4:119-124.)