Common Arterial Trunk in Fetal Life: Accuracy of Diagnosis and Prediction of Outcome

Abstract

<b><i>Introduction:</i></b> Common arterial trunk (CAT) is a congenital heart disease with significant perinatal mortality in which diagnostic agreement remains low. <b><i>Methods:</i></b> We conducted a retrospective cohort study on fetuses with suspected CAT. Diagnostic accuracy was tested considering gold-standard postnatal ultrasound or necropsy. Prenatal sonographic markers were evaluated by logistic regression for perinatal survival. <b><i>Results:</i></b> There were 79 fetuses with suspected CAT, and 55 cases had available necropsy/postnatal ultrasound confirming the study population. The diagnostic accuracy was 90.9% for CAT and 83.6% at a subtype level. In those with a confirmed diagnosis and intention-to-treat (<i>n</i> = 28) composite early mortality (intrauterine, presurgical, and early surgery) was of 25%, 10.5% in isolated cases. The OR for early-mortality of isolated cases was 0.13 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.03–0.75). After adjusting for isolated cases, the only prognostic prenatal markers of perinatal mortality were a dysplastic truncal valve OR 7.78 (95% CI: 1.23–49.13) and a stenotic flow OR 8.48 (95% CI: 1.40–51.10). <b><i>Conclusion:</i></b> CAT is a condition that if evaluated by experts, can be diagnosed with a high degree of accuracy. It remains an entity with high perinatal mortality. Its most important prognostic factor is its association with other anomalies. In isolated cases, the presence of a dysplastic truncal valve and a stenotic flow increase the chances of perinatal death.