Sonographic measurement of fetal aortic size: Normative values in a sample of normal fetuses in a Lagos suburb, Southwest Nigeria

Abstract Background Congenital heart disease (CHD) is one of the most common congenital anomalies while prenatal ultrasound screening is a necessity even in low risk populations. Aim To measure fetal ascending aortic diameter (AAD) between 18 and 38 weeks of gestation in order to provide a normal reference data for the population studied. Method In the prospective cross sectional study, a sample of 300 healthy pregnant women was selected to undergo trans-abdominal echocardiography. Data Collection Logiq 3 ultrasound machine fitted with a 3.5 MHz–5 MHz variable curvilinear transducer was used for data collection. Results Mean AAD was 4.59 ± 1.56 mm. There was a linear relationship between AAD and gestational age (GA) while there was a strong positive correlation between AAD and GA (r = 0.9915). Mean AAD for male and female fetuses was 4.60 ± 0.57 mm and 4.58 ± 0.55 mm respectively and the difference in mean AAD was not significant (p = 0.8420) between both sexes. Mean AAD in the study was significantly different from the mean AAD in a European and Asian studies (p = 0.001). Conclusion Trans-abdominal echocardiography carried out between the 18th and 38th week of gestation appears useful in screening for CHD especially if screening is performed by an experienced sonographer using a high resolution ultrasound machine.