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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Indian J Radiol Imaging 2015; 25(04): 471-473
DOI: 10.4103/0971-3026.169446
Obstetric Radiology

Fetal echopsy (ultrasonographic autopsy) of an acardius myelancephalus and its correlation with antenatal ultrasonographic findings

Balakumar Karippaliyil
Department of Ultrasonography, Balku's Scan, PVS Hospital, Calicut, Kerala, India
,
Milind Karippaliyil
Department of Ultrasonography, Balku's Scan, PVS Hospital, Calicut, Kerala, India
,
Misha Karippaliyil
Department of Ultrasonography, Balku's Scan, PVS Hospital, Calicut, Kerala, India
› Author Affiliations Financial support and sponsorship Nil.
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Abstract

Aberrant transplacental arteriovenous shunts between the placental and cord vessels of monozygotic monoamniotic twins or triplets result in the formation of an acardius. The prenatal diagnosis of this condition has been reported occasionally in the literature. A subtype categorized as acardius myelancephalus was diagnosed at 32 weeks of gestation by ultrasonography (USG). The pregnancy was aborted because of poor prognostic predictors and the acardius was subjected to ultrasonographic autopsy (fetal echopsy). The antenatal USG features were correlated with echopsy findings for confirmation of the antenatal findings and for a better visual perception of the prenatal diagnostic features. The echopsy revealed more precise details. Fetal echopsy avoids the medicolegal problems concerned with parental consent for classical invasive fetal autopsy.

Keywords

Acardius myelancephalus - fetal echopsy - fetal ultrasonographic autopsy - TRAP sequence - twin pregnancy - ultrasonography


Publication History

Article published online:
30 July 2021

© 2015. Indian Radiological Association. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial-License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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