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M-mode echocardiographic examination of the right and left ventricles was performed on 82 normal fetuses between 18 and 41 weeks of gestation. The diameter of the right and left ventricles correlated with the biparietal diameter. The right/left ratio of the ventricular diameters remained constant (1:1) throughout gestation. Fractional shortening and mean circumferential shortening of both ventricles were independent of gestational age. The data presented in this paper will allow the clinician to evaluate abnormal fetal conditions that might affect cardiovascular structure and/or function.

A technique that makes use of real-time-directed M-mode echocardiography is described in which the fetal heart is evaluated for suspected cardiac arrhythmias. Simultaneous M-mode recording of aortic, mitral, or tricuspid valvular leaflet excursion and/or atrioventricular wall motion defines timing relationships between atrial and ventricular systole. With the use of the techniques described in this report, normal as well as abnormal atrioventricular contractions can be quantitated and cardiac arrhythmias accurately defined.

Neonatal heart rate (HR) and arterial blood pressure (BP) were recorded continuously for the 1st hour of life in term newborn infants of normotensive (control group) and pre-eclamptic (study group) primiparous mothers. Infants were matched for gestational age, birth weight, method of delivery, and Apgar scores. In infants of pre-eclamptic mothers, the HR was significantly lower for the 1st 50 min of life, and their mean arterial blood pressure (MAP) was significantly higher during the 1st 20 min of life.

The aortic root dimension and aortic valve excursion of 43 normal fetuses were recorded with M-mode echocardiography and the measured dimensions correlated with noncardiac measurements (biparietal diameter, head circumference, abdominal circumference, and femur length) and cardiac measurements (diastolic biventricular inner dimension, diastolic left ventricular internal dimension, and mitral valve excursion). The correlation coefficients for the aortic root dimension ranged between 0.87 and 0.95, while those for the aortic valve excursion ranged between 0.78 and 0.87. Regression analysis demonstrated that the best fit of the data was a linear model from which the 5% and 95% confidence limits were computed for individual predictions of aortic root dimension and aortic valve excursion from noncardiac and cardiac measurements.

Eighty-two normal fetuses were scanned from 18 to 41 weeks of gestation. The following M-mode measurements were correlated with the abdominal circumference: diastolic biventricular outer (r = 0.951) and inner (r = 0.948) dimensions; diastolic right (r = 0.942) and left (r = 0.925) internal dimensions; tricuspid (r = 0.916) and mitral (r = 0.900) valve opening excursions; and right (r = 0.774), left (r = 0.731), and interventricular septal (r = 0.753) wall thickness. Polynomial regression demonstrated that linear regression best described the data from which the mean and 5 per cent and 95 per cent confidence limits for predicted M-mode measurements were computed for the abdominal circumference between 12 and 35 cm.