Objectives: Maternal urogenital infections during pregnancy are worldwide frequent problem. The aim was to analyze influence of maternal genitourinary infection on fetal cardiac function, pregnancy development and obstetrical outcomes.
Methods: This was a single-center cohort study on fetuses (average at 28th week) in two groups: with maternal urogenital infections (study group n=49) and control group with no infections (n=59). Parvovirus B19, toxoplasmosis, cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex infections, congenital malformations, fetal growth restriction, chronic maternal diseases, as well as patients with body mass index (BMI) >25 kg/m2 were excluded. We analyzed: maternal age, time of delivery, neonatal birth weight, Apgar scores, average time of hospitalization of newborns after birth and several fetal echocardiographic parameters.
Results: The only statistical differences was found for shorter isovolumetric relaxation time (IRT) (40 ± 10 vs. 45 ± 9; p=0.03) and longer ejection time (ET) [ms] for right ventricle (RV) (176 ± 24 vs. 164 ± 18; p=0.01). Thick placenta was observed more frequent in study group than in controls (36.7 vs. 16.9%; p= 0.02).
Conclusions: The missing link for explanation of these findings was coincidence with thick placenta. This is probably the first observation suggesting that thick placenta (>5 cm) may affect fetal RV function in normal heart anatomy: prolongation of right ventricular ET and shortening of fetal right ventricular IVRT.
Keywords: congenital anomalies; fetal anomalies; fetal dysfunctions; maternal infections; tei index; thick placenta.
© 2022 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston.