Version 1
: Received: 15 October 2024 / Approved: 15 October 2024 / Online: 15 October 2024 (18:12:07 CEST)
How to cite:
Ahmed, B.; Elsisi, A. E.; Konje, J. C. Fetal Tele-Echocardiography – An Approach to Improving Diagnosis and Management. Preprints2024, 2024101236. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1236.v1
Ahmed, B.; Elsisi, A. E.; Konje, J. C. Fetal Tele-Echocardiography – An Approach to Improving Diagnosis and Management. Preprints 2024, 2024101236. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1236.v1
Ahmed, B.; Elsisi, A. E.; Konje, J. C. Fetal Tele-Echocardiography – An Approach to Improving Diagnosis and Management. Preprints2024, 2024101236. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1236.v1
APA Style
Ahmed, B., Elsisi, A. E., & Konje, J. C. (2024). Fetal Tele-Echocardiography – An Approach to Improving Diagnosis and Management. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1236.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Ahmed, B., Amal Elsisi Elsisi and Justin C Konje. 2024 "Fetal Tele-Echocardiography – An Approach to Improving Diagnosis and Management" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202410.1236.v1
Abstract
Introduction: Antenatal diagnosis of cardiac abnormalities and counselling parents about postnatal care requires a multidisciplinary team which includes a paediatric cardiologist a neonatologist and a fetal medicine physician. Some of this expertise is not available in all centres with fetal medicine expertise, however with modern technology, this could be provided remotely. Our objective was to assess the feasibility and outcomes of a pre-natal multidisciplinary tele-echocardiography diagnostic and counselling services
Materials and Methods: Two centres based in separate countries provided a joint diagnostic and counselling service over a period of 14 months. The primary centre undertook the fetal echocardiography with a Voluson E10 machine and images transmitted live using Zoom OPS system with video-consultation and counselling. The fetal echo was performed using the ISUOG Guidelines check list.
Results: There was an initial feasibility period of 2 months during which 10 women whose fetuses had normal hearts were scanned to test the workability of the system. Over a period of 12 months, 513 high risk fetuses were then scanned and out of these 27 had congenital malformations. The most common were hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HHLS) and atrio-ventricular septal defect. Tele-echocardiography and counselling was successful in all the cases. Satisfaction with the service was 3.8/4 with the main limitation being the need for further referral to a tertiary centre for delivery.
Conclusion: Tele-echocardiography is reliable and when combined with live counselling and support from a paediatric cardiologist, is an option acceptable to patients. The greatest benefit was from being counselled by a team of experts at a single consultation rather than having to travel to another centre for consultation. With rapidly evolving technology, making video transmission easier and less expensive, we feel that consideration should be given not only to the development of tele-echocardiography but extended to other aspects of fetal medicine.
Medicine and Pharmacology, Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
