Diagnostic Difficulties in a Case of Fetal Ventricular Tachycardia Associated with Neonatal COVID Infection: Case Report

The clinical course of COVID in the pediatric population is considered to be much milder when compared to adults; however, the occurrence of severe and fatal forms of the disease in children is non-negligible, especially in patients with comorbidities such as prematurity or cardiac disease. We report a case of a newborn with sotalol-controlled fetal ventricular tachycardia, who was postnatally diagnosed with COVID infection. The myocardial injury was sustained on the basis of pericardial effusion, left ventricular dysfunction, rapid progression to coronary artery dilation, and an arrhythmic storm. We believe that, in our case, there is a significant overlap between fetal ventricular tachycardia, associated with impaired left ventricular function, and COVID infection, diagnosed after birth; both factors contribute to the myocardial dysfunction with a fulminant clinical evolution. To our knowledge, this is the first case describing neonatal myocardial dysfunction associated with SARS-CoV infection complicating the clinical course of rare fetal tachyarrhythmia.

Favourable outcome for hydrops or cardiac failure associated with fetal tachyarrhythmia: a 20-year review

Background: Prognosis of fetuses with hydrops and tachyarrhythmia has been portrayed as poor in most published reports. This might lead to biased counselling, unnecessary caesarean section, preterm delivery, and even termination of pregnancy. Aims: To evaluate contemporary fetal and postnatal outcomes of hydropic fetuses with fetal tachyarrhythmia when it is treated effectively and monitored systematically. Methods: This is a retrospective review of a single centre experience at the University Hospital of Wales over a 20-year period. All fetuses received high doses of flecainide and digoxin combination treatment. Tachycardia response rate, time to arrhythmia and hydrops resolution, fetal and postnatal morbidity, and mortality rates were analysed. Results: Twenty fetuses were diagnosed with hydrops fetalis and received treatment. The mechanism of fetal tachyarrhythmia was supraventricular tachycardia in thirteen and atrial flutter in eight cases. Among the 20 fetuses treated, the overall tachycardia response rate was 90% (18/20) with the restoration of sinus rhythm in 85% (17/20) of the cases. The median time to restore sinus rhythm or to rate control of the arrhythmia was 1.5 days (range 12 hours to 13 days). Hydrops resolved in 17 of the 20 fetuses, with a median time of 12 days (range 3–21 days). Four fetuses went into spontaneous preterm birth and one fetus was delivered early due to worsening hydrops. No significant neurological morbidity was observed in surviving neonates and infants on clinical examination. There was one postnatal death due to respiratory complications of prematurity in the non-responsive supraventricular tachycardia case. Conclusions: High-dose flecainide and digoxin combination offers effective treatment strategy in fetuses with hydrops and tachyarrhythmia with favourable outcomes. This study may guide more realistic counselling for pregnancies complicated by tachyarrhythmia and hydrops.

World Congress of Perinatal Medicine

SPEAKERS ABSTRACT The application of super slow review of ultrasound clips to a diagnosis of fetal tachyarrhythmia Name and surname: Jun Yoshimatsu Institution: National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Email: [email protected] Objective Fetal arrhythmias occur in 1–2% of all pregnant cases. Premature atrial contraction (PAC), premature ventricular contraction (PVC) which are clinically benign are relatively common and do not require therapy. In contrast supraventricular tachycardias (SVTs), atrial flutter (AFL), ventricular tachycardia which are life-threatening are relatively rare but require treatment. These tachyarrhythmias easily complicate fetal congestive heart failure which can be followed by a fetal death. Thus, prenatal treatment for SVT and AFL is warranted to convert to sinus rhythm. Recently our group demonstrated that protocol-defined transplacental treatment for fetal SVT and AFL was effective and tolerable in 90% of cases. In order to choose the appropriate medication for fetal tachyarrhythmia the accurate diagnosis is important. Because fetal electrocardiography is still not available fetal echocardiography is commonly used for the diagnosis of fetal arrhythmia. The M-mode and Doppler echocardiography may achieve prenatal identification of arrhythmic types. The easier method helps more accurate and precise diagnosis of it. Recent advances of ultrasound examination technology allows a high spatial resolution and high temporal resolution at the same time. The image editing of video clips of four chamber view, which is the most easier image plane, is applicable for the diagnosis of fetal arrhythmias. We conducted the research to innovate the useful video clip editing method including a super slow motion for the precise diagnosis of fetal arrhythmias. Method From our fetal echocardiography database, 55 fetal echocardiography video clips (35 AFL, 20 SVT) were reviewed. Four chamber view clips of each case were selected. Every clips were edited into 10% speed. One examiner inserted the clip maker at the timing of atrial contraction and ventricular contraction. The intervals between ventricular contraction and atrial contraction were measured. Also the number of times of contraction of atrium and ventricle and their relations were recorded. Results Every contractions of each portion (atrium and ventricle) could be detected easily with edited video clips. The differentiation between AFL and SVT could be done completely by counting the number of contractions of atrium and ventricle. Also the V-A intervals and the A-V intervals could be measured in one hundredth seconds. In all cases, the diagnosis is compatible with that had made postnatally. Conclusion The first step of this study was depended on the examiner’s naked eyes helped by editing application. The accuracy of each steps of this study were satisfactory. This is the preliminary step to conduct the deep learning of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The most important point of using AI is setting up what to teach and how to teach. Our study showed the possibility of the application of AI to make a diagnosis of fetal tachyarrhythmia.

Nonimmune hydrops fetalis management from the perspective of fetal cardiologists: A single tertiary center experience from Egypt

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in managing nonimmune hydrops fetalis (NIHF), perinatal mortality is still significant. Fetal cardiac failure eventually occurs regardless of etiology. However, no previous study has addressed NIHF from fetal cardiologists’ perspective. Therefore, we evaluated etiology and management of a NIHF cohort requiring fetal cardiologist consultation in a developing country. METHODS: A single-center retrospective cohort study of 70 cases with NIHF that were referred to a fetal cardiology unit over four years was performed. Demographics, etiologic diagnosis, and outcomes of the cases were assessed. Antenatal management was evaluated using cardiovascular profile score (CVPS). RESULTS: The most frequent diagnosis was Idiopathic hydrops 42(62.6%), followed by hydrops due to cardiac diseases 19(28.4%), and 3 dead fetuses were detected at the first fetal echocardiography. Treatment of fetal tachyarrhythmia (n = 7) had 100% success rate in terms of antenatal hydrops resolution. Digoxin was used in cases of structural heart diseases, twin- twin transfusion syndrome, and dilated cardiomyopathy with perinatal mortality occurring in all cases (n = 9). In cases of idiopathic hydrops, 14 fetuses received digoxin with intrauterine hydrops resolution in 2/14 (14%) while non-treated cases had intrauterine or early neonatal death. CONCLUSION: Nonimmune hydrops is the worst complication of diverse etiologies. Limitations in resources for advanced investigations in developing countries increase the possibility of categorizing NIHF as idiopathic. Tachyarrhythmia induced hydrops can be entirely reversed with antenatal therapy while non-tachyarrhythmia fetal cardiac disease outcomes are unfavorable regardless of therapy. On the other hand, idiopathic hydrops shows a limited potential response to digoxin in utero.

Complete resolution of arrhythmia-induced hydrops fetalis in utero

A 21-year-old G3P2011 Caucasian woman at 27 weeks’ gestation presented with fetal tachyarrhythmia between 240 and 270 beats per minute. Fetal supraventricular tachycardia, abdominal ascites, pleural effusion and pericardial effusion indicated hydrops fetalis. Management with digoxin and flecainide converted the fetus to sinus rhythm and resolved the ascites and pleural effusion within 4 days of treatment. Flecainide was discontinued at 31 weeks’ gestation due to elevated liver enzymes. Intrahepatic cholestasis was treated with ursodiol. Caesarean section was performed at 37 weeks’ gestation. Neonatal echocardiogram revealed a bicuspid aortic valve with mild regurgitation and a patent foramen ovale, and the infant showed no subsequent evidence of tachyarrhythmia or hydrops after delivery. Treatment of hydrops fetalis in the antenatal period is complex, and early diagnosis and treatment can quickly resolve supraventricular tachycardia-induced hydrops fetalis.