Congenital fetal anomalies in pregnancies associated with oligo-anhydramnios and polyhydramnios

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the fetal anomalies asociated with oligo-anhydramnios or polyhydramnios. STUDY DESIGN: Of the 2803 pregnant women who underwent prenatal ultrasound examination between February 2002 and August 2003; 544 women were detected to have amniotic fluid aberration. The incidence and spectrum of fetal anomalies, lethality rate and maternal causes of amniotic fluid volume disorders were investigated. RESULTS: Four hundred and eighty one women (17.1%) had oligo-anhydramnios and 63 (2.2%) had polyhydramnios. There were no significant difference between the total lethality rates of the groups (oligo-anhydramnios 5.4% vs polyhydramnios 15.8%). The most frequent malformations found in oligo-anhydramnios were abnormalities of the urinary tract (3.9%) and abnormalities of the gastrointestinal tract was the leading cause of polyhydramnios in singleton pregnancies (12.6%). Fetuses with polyhydramnios had a significantly higher rate of anomaly than the fetuses with oligo-anhydramnios (p=0.003). CONCLUSION: Amniotic fluid volume disorders represents a significantly higher rate of fetal anomalies compared to normal pregnancies. The rate of congenital anomaly in the case of polyhydramnios is higher than oligo-anhydramnios.