Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (2025)

Table of Contents
Subjects Abstract Objective Study design Results Conclusions Access options Additional access options: Similar content being viewed by others Fetal cardiac MRI: a single center experience over 14-years on the potential utility as an adjunct to fetal technically inadequate echocardiography Utility of novel echocardiographic measurements to improve prenatal diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta Prenatal diagnosis of tracheo-oesophageal fistula/oesophageal atresia: is MRI helpful? Data availability References Acknowledgements Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions Corresponding author Ethics declarations Competing interests Ethics approval and consent to participate Additional information Supplementary information Supplementary Table 1 Supplementary Figure 1 Supplementary Figure 2 Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article
  • Article
  • Published:
  • Nicolle M. Ceneri ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0003-0478-62501,
  • Michelle L. Udine2,
  • Manan H. Desai3,
  • Steven J. Staffa4,
  • Wendy Ho5,
  • Leanne Buckels2,
  • Stephanie R. Lacey2 &
  • …
  • Mary T. Donofrio2,5

Journal of Perinatology (2025)Cite this article

  • 11 Accesses

  • Metrics details

Subjects

  • Congenital heart defects
  • Medical imaging
  • Outcomes research

Abstract

Objective

To assess thediagnostic accuracy and postnatal outcomes of fetuses with asuspected vascular ring (VR).

Study design

Single-center retrospective study of patients with suspected VR by fetal echocardiography. Postnatal evaluation included echocardiography +/- cross-sectional imaging. Outcomes, including symptomatology and surgery, were recorded and compared between VR types.

Results

Of 68 suspected fetal VRs, 81% were confirmed postnatally. Concordance between fetal and postnatal anatomy was 76%. Five neonates required resuscitation unrelated to VR. Symptoms presented in 13 patients (median 45 days), independent of VR type. Surgical intervention was performed in 15 patients (median 99 days); 80% were symptomatic. At amedian follow-up of 6 months, 4 patients were symptomatic including 3 postoperative.

Conclusions

Fetal echocardiography accurately identifies and characterizes VR anatomy in most instances. Specialized delivery planning in uncomplicated casesis unnecessary given absence of symptoms at birth. Fetal diagnosis may not indicate surgical disease, as symptoms do not occur in all and early surgery does not guarantee symptom resolution.

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Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (1)
Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (2)
Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (3)

Similar content being viewed by others

Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (4)

Fetal cardiac MRI: a single center experience over 14-years on the potential utility as an adjunct to fetal technically inadequate echocardiography

Article Open access 23 July 2020

Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (5)

Utility of novel echocardiographic measurements to improve prenatal diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta

Article Open access 25 March 2023

Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (6)

Prenatal diagnosis of tracheo-oesophageal fistula/oesophageal atresia: is MRI helpful?

Article Open access 29 August 2024

Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

Thank you to all the team members in the Children’s National Prenatal Cardiology Program and Echocardiology Laboratory for their contributions to this study, especially Megan Barbosa.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pediatrics, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    Nicolle M. Ceneri

  2. Division of Cardiology, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    Michelle L. Udine,Leanne Buckels,Stephanie R. Lacey&Mary T. Donofrio

  3. Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    Manan H. Desai

  4. Department of Anesthesiology and Surgery, Boston Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

    Steven J. Staffa

  5. Prenatal Pediatrics Institute, Children’s National Hospital, Washington, DC, USA

    Wendy Ho&Mary T. Donofrio

Authors

  1. Nicolle M. Ceneri

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  5. Wendy Ho

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  6. Leanne Buckels

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  7. Stephanie R. Lacey

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  8. Mary T. Donofrio

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Contributions

NMC, MLU, MHD, SJS, SRL, MTD contributed to the conception and design of the study. NMC, MLU, WH, and LB performed data acquisition. NMC and SJS performed data analysis. NMC wrote the original manuscript draft. All authors revised, reviewed, and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Mary T. Donofrio.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval and consent to participate

This study was approved and conducted under the Children’s National Hospital Institutional Review Board (Pro00011202) with a waiver of individual consent and in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki.

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Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (7)

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Ceneri, N.M., Udine, M.L., Desai, M.H. et al. Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study. J Perinatol (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02244-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41372-025-02244-x

Diagnostic accuracy and short-term implications of prenatally diagnosed vascular rings: a single center study (2025)
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