Fetal Cardiac Anomalies

Balci, Burcin Karamustafaoglu/0000-0001-5196-4502WOS: 000443367100007This review is intended to give a practical guide to ultrasound recognition of the commonly observed fetal cardiac abnormalities and their key features on standard imaging planes during antenatal anomaly screening examinations. All information provided here, on the diagnosis and management of fetal cardiac anomalies, is based on the personal experiences of the authors and their expert reviews of the selected previously published studies

Incidence of echogenic amniotic fluid at term pregnancy and its association with meconium

Balci, Burcin Karamustafaoglu/0000-0001-5196-4502WOS: 000427466800014PubMed: 29362926The presence of echogenic amniotic fluid at term gestation on sonography is uncommon. The aim of our study was to investigate the incidence of echogenic amniotic fluid at term pregnancy, and to determine how often echogenic amniotic fluid was associated with meconium. All singleton pregnant women at term who were admitted to our labor unit and who delivered within 24 h of the ultrasound scan were included in the study. For each woman, gestational age, maternal age, gravidity, parity, the character of the amniotic fluid on ultrasound at admission (clear or echogenic), birth weight, and the character of the amniotic fluid on artificial or spontaneous rupture of membranes or on cesarean section (clear/with vernix/meconium-stained) were recorded. When amniotic fluid was assessed on ultrasound, among 278 patients, 9 (3.2%) patients' amniotic fluid was echogenic. When the amniotic fluid was assessed at delivery, the rates of meconium-stained amniotic fluid in women with and without echogenic amniotic fluid were 44.44% (4/9) and 9.3% (25/269), respectively; the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.035). We found a sensitivity and specificity of 13.79 and 97.99%, and a positive and negative predictive value of 44.44 and 90.7%, respectively, for echogenic amniotic fluid seen on ultrasound in identifying meconium-stained amniotic fluid. The incidence of echogenic amniotic fluid at term gestation was found as 3.2 and 44.4% of cases of echogenic amniotic fluid was associated with meconium

The levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system is associated with a reduction in dysmenorrhoea and dyspareunia, a decrease in CA 125 levels, and an increase in quality of life in women with suspected endometriosis

Balci, Burcin Karamustafaoglu/0000-0001-5196-4502WOS: 000446978700018PubMed: 29359457Background and aimsThe aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine device (LNG-IUS) in the symptomatic relief of pain in women with endometriosis and additionally, to assess the changes in women's life quality and serum cancer antigen (CA) 125 levels. Materials and methodsAll women who had an LNG-IUS inserted for the treatment of dysmenorrhea, chronic pelvic pain or both for more than six months over a two-year period were included in the study. Each woman was asked to complete questionnaires of the Short Form-36 and visual analogue scales (VAS) in the first visit and the third, sixth, ninth and twelfth months after the LNG-IUS insertion. CA 125 levels were measured at each visit. ResultsForty-five women were included in the study. At the end of 12months, mean dysmenorrhoea VAS score decreased from 6.13 to 2.88, mean dsyspareunia VAS score from 6.04 to 2.61 and CA 125 level from 50.67 to 22.45. Endometriomas reduced in size in six women (mean size decreased from 31 to 20mm) and disappeared in three. ConclusionsSeveral favourable outcomes were found following LNG-IUS insertion: (i) dyspareunia and dysmenorrhoea were clearly reduced; (ii) the size of endometriomas were decreased; (iii) CA 125 levels significantly decreased; (iv) a few women experienced the typical systemic adverse effects of progestogens; however, LNG-IUS-related adverse events were generally tolerable and the discontinuation rate was as low as 6.66% (3/45)