Abnormal pregnancy sonogram and chromosomal anomalies: Four years' experience with rapid karyotyping

Over a four-year period, 140 pregnancies with different malformations detected by ultrasound were examined cytogenetically. Gestational age ranged from 13 to 36 weeks. Twenty-six fetuses (18.6 per cent) had abnormal karyotypes, including trisomies, triploidy, monosomy X, and structural anomalies. Similar malformations were found in fetuses with different chromosomal anomalies, indicating that the types of malformations are not specific for particular chromosomal anomalies. Chromosomal analysis was performed on amniotic fluid culture and by direct karyotyping of placental biopsies. Direct karyotyping is suggested to be the most rapid approach, especially if sonographic anomalies are detected close to the 24th week of gestation, shortly before delivery, and in cases of significant oligohydramnios.     

Inv dup (15): Prenatal diagnosis and postnatal follow-up

A de novo inv dup (15) was diagnosed at amniocentesis. No physical abnormalities were detected after birth. The boy developed severe mental and motor retardation, which became obvious at 16 months of age.     

Congenital hereditary hypothyroidism—prenatal diagnosis and treatment

Intrauterine diagnosis of congenital hypothyroidism was established on the basis of TSH concentration in amniotic fluid in the 22nd week of gestation for the offspring of a couple both known to have an iodide organification defect. Prenatal treatment consisted of intramniotic injections of 500 meg Na-1-thyroxine, which was administered from the first amniocentesis until one week before delivery. Following delivery, the diagnosis was confirmed by the elevated level of TSH, 60-5 uU/ml, and a gradual decrease of fT4 to 0·8 ng/ml. Regular substitution therapy was commenced on the third day of life. The normal shape and location of the thyroid gland was demonstrated by Technetium scintiscan. At 18 months the infant revealed no significant deviation from normalcy in growth or mental capacity. This experience indicates that testing of amniotic fluid for TSH in the 22nd week of gestation can be diagnostic for congenital primary hypothyroidism. Furthermore, it is suggested that the treatment approach described is warranted in all cases in which there is a high risk of congenital primary hypothyroidism.     

Prenatal diagnosis of an intra-abdominal sacrococcygeal teratoma

The prenatal diagnosis of a presacral (type IV) sacrococcygeal teratoma (SCT) is described. The initial ultrasound appearance was suggestive of a lower urinary tract obstruction, but further ultrasonic examination and radiological imaging using contrast medium led to the diagnosis of SCT. This is the first prenatal diagnosis of a totally intra-abdominal SCT.     

Abnormal karyotype in the chorion,not confirmed in a subsequently aborted fetus

An abnormal fetal karyotype, containing a del 16(q21-qter) as an extra chromosome, was diagnosed in all 14 metaphases examined in a sample of chorionic villous biopsy material. After elective abortion a mosaicism for this cell-line together with a normal one was detected in the chorionic tissue. Fibroblast cultures from several fetal skin biopsies all revealed a normal karyotype.     

Prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 9 mosaic presenting as a case of Dandy-Walker malformation

Trisomy 9 syndrome is a rare chromosomal anomaly associated with specific patterns of multisystem dysmorphism and occasional central nervous system (CNS) malformations, the most common being the Dandy-Walker malformation. Milder anomalies are usually seen with trisomy 9 mosaicism. We report what we believe to be the first case of a baby with an isolated Dandy-Walker malformation which was diagnosed prenatally and was subsequently found to have a trisomy 9 mosaic syndrome.     

Complex mosaicism associated with trisomy 9

Fetal karyotypes can be routinely obtained by chorionic villus biopsy, amniocentesis, or fetal blood sampling. Interpretation of results and subsequent counselling can be complicated by pseudomosaicism or mosaicism confined to the placenta or other tissues. We illustrate this by reporting a case of an abnormal fetus with a total of three karyotypically different cell lines (46,XXrpar; 47,XX, + 9; and 47,XX, + del (9) (q11) in different tissues (placenta, lung, gonad, and skin).     

Justification of maternal serum alphafetoprotein screening in a population with low incidence of neural tube defects

A prospective study of maternal serum alphafetoprotein (α-FP) screening of 9838 women in an area with low prevalence of neural tube defects and predominance of anencephalics revealed that an intervention point of single serum α-FP level above 2·8 times the median was appropriate for this population. Ninety per cent of anencephalics and all fetuses with anterior abdominal wall defects were detected. There was no spina bifida among the population screened. Two per cent of the population screened had serum α-FP level above this cut-off level. Thirty-two per cent of twin pregnancies, 7 per cent of small-for-gestational age infants and 9 per cent of pregnancies which ended in either abortion or perinatal death in the population screened also had one serum α-FP level above this intervention point. The false positive rate was 66 per cent. This false positive rate was only reduced to 63 per cent if instead of one, two serum α-FP level above this intervention point was considered abnormal. Using this strategy there was no significant reduction in the detection rate of fetal anomalies and other pregnancy complications. Because of the predominance of anencephalics in this population the diagnosis of fetal anomaly in women with abnormal serum a-FP level was made by ultrasound examination alone. The reason amniocentesis was not performed in these patients was to avoid unnecessary loss of normal pregnancies which may result from this procedure.     

Cytogenetic results from the U.S. collaborative study on CVS

Cytogenetic data are presented for 11 473 chorionic villus sampling (CVS) procedures from nine centres in the U.S. NICHD collaborative study. A successful cytogenetic diagnosis was obtained in 99.7 per cent of cases, with data obtained from the direct method only (26 per cent), culture method only (42 per cent), or a combination of both (32 per cent). A total of 1.1 per cent of patients had a second CVS or amniocentesis procedure for reasons related to the cytogenetic diagnostic procedure, including laboratory failures (27 cases), maternal cell contamination (4 cases), or mosaic or ambiguous cytogenetic results (98 cases). There were no diagnostic errors involving trisomies for chromosomes 21, 18, and 13. For sex chromosome aneuploidies, one patient terminated her pregnancy on the basis of non-mosaic 47,XXX in the direct method prior to the availability of results from cultured cells. Subsequent analysis of the CVS cultures and fetal tissues showed only normal female cells. Other false-positive predictions involving non-mosaic aneuploidies (n = 13) were observed in the direct or culture method, but these cases involved rare aneuploidies: four cases of tetraploidy, two cases of trisomy 7, and one case each of trisomies 3, 8, 11, 15, 16,20, and 22. This indicates that rare aneuploidies observed in the direct or culture method should be subjected to follow-up by amniocentesis. Two cases of unbalanced structural abnormalities detected in the direct method were not confirmed in cultured CVS or amniotic fluid. In addition, one structural rearrangement was misinterpreted as unbalanced from the direct method, leading to pregnancy termination prior to results from cultured cells showing a balanced, inherited translocation. False-negative results (n = 8) were observed only in the direct method, including one non-mosaic fetal abnormality (trisomy 18) detected by the culture method and seven cases of fetal mosaicism (all detected by the culture method). Mosaicism was observed in 0.8 per cent of all cases, while pseudomosaicism (including single trisomic cells) was observed in 1.6 per cent of cases. Mosaicism was observed with equal frequency in the direct and culture methods, but was confirmed as fetal mosaicism more often in cases from the culture method (24 per cent) than in cases from the direct method (10 per cent). The overall rate of maternal cell contamination was 1.8 per cent for the culture method, but there was only one case of incorrect sex prediction due to complete maternal cell contamination which resulted in the birth of a normal male. The rate of maternal cell contamination was significantly higher in samples obtained by the transcervical sampling method (2. 16 per cent) than in samples obtained by the transabdominal method (0.79 per cent). From these data, it is clear that the culture method has a higher degree of diagnostic accuracy than the direct method, which should not be used as the sole diagnostic technique. The direct method can be a useful adjunct to the culture method, in which maternal cell contamination can lead to incorrect sex prediction and potentially to false-negative diagnostic results.     

A case of paternal uniparental disomy for chromosome 11

We report a case of paternal uniparental disomy for chromosome 11 that presented as severe intrauterine growth retardation. Autopsy following intrauterine death also revealed aberrant intestinal rotation and hypospadias. Chromosome analysis of direct preparations from placental biopsy showed an abnormal 47,XY,+11 karyotype. Analysis of long-term cultures from the placenta revealed 46,XY/47,XY,+11 mosaicism. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies on interphase nuclei confirmed trisomy 11 in multiple placental sites but detected only disomic cells in fetal skin. Investigation using microsatellite polymorphisms demonstrated paternal isodisomy at loci D11S909, D11S956, and D11S488, and paternal heterodisomy at locus D11S928.