Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Archives of Disease in Childhood logoLink to Archives of Disease in Childhood
. 1986 Oct;61(10):996–1000. doi: 10.1136/adc.61.10.996

Intrauterine supraventricular tachyarrhythmias and transplacental digitalisation.

M Nagashima, T Asai, C Suzuki, M Matsushima, A Ogawa
PMCID: PMC1777968  PMID: 3777990

Abstract

Six newborn infants with intrauterine supraventricular tachyarrhythmias (five cases of atrial flutter and one of supraventricular tachycardia) are described. Transplacental digitalisation was attempted in three cases. Supraventricular tachycardia associated with hydrops fetalis, detected in a fetus at a gestation of 31 weeks, was successfully converted to normal sinus rhythm eight days after the mother began treatment with digoxin. The serum concentration of digoxin in cord blood almost equalled the maternal concentration in three cases. In the remaining three cases treatment with digitalis was effective in converting tachyarrhythmias to sinus rhythm after delivery. With maintenance digoxin therapy, the prognosis of fetal tachyarrhythmias seems to be good, once conversion to sinus rhythm has been accomplished.

Full text

PDF
996

Images in this article

998Fig. 2
on p.998
999Fig. 3
on p.999

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Allan L. D., Crawford D. C., Anderson R. H., Tynan M. J. Echocardiographic and anatomical correlations in fetal congenital heart disease. Br Heart J. 1984 Nov;52(5):542–548. doi: 10.1136/hrt.52.5.542. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Dunnigan A., Benson W., Jr, Benditt D. G. Atrial flutter in infancy: diagnosis, clinical features, and treatment. Pediatrics. 1985 Apr;75(4):725–729. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Gladstone G. R., Hordof A., Gersony W. M. Propranolol administration during pregnancy: effects on the fetus. J Pediatr. 1975 Jun;86(6):962–964. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(75)80236-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Harrigan J. T., Kangos J. J., Sikka A., Spisso K. R., Natarajan N., Rosenfeld D., Leiman S., Korn D. Successful treatment of fetal congestive heart failure secondary to tachycardia. N Engl J Med. 1981 Jun 18;304(25):1527–1529. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198106183042506. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Heaton F. C., Vaughan R. Intrauterine supraventricular tachycardia: cardioversion with maternal digoxin. Obstet Gynecol. 1982 Dec;60(6):749–752. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Hirata K., Kato H., Yoshioka F., Matsunaga T. Successful treatment of fetal atrial flutter and congestive heart failure. Arch Dis Child. 1985 Feb;60(2):158–160. doi: 10.1136/adc.60.2.158. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Iliff P. J., Nicholls J. M., Keeling J. W., Gough J. D. Non-immunologic hydrops fetalis: a review of 27 cases. Arch Dis Child. 1983 Dec;58(12):979–982. doi: 10.1136/adc.58.12.979. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Kerenyi T. D., Gleicher N., Meller J., Brown E., Steinfeld L., Chitkara U., Raucher H. Transplancental cardioversion of intrauterine supraventricular tachycardia with digitalis. Lancet. 1980 Aug 23;2(8191):393–394. doi: 10.1016/s0140-6736(80)90441-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Klein A. M., Holzman I. R., Austin E. M. Fetal tachycardia prior to the development of hydrops--attempted pharmacologic cardioversion: case report. Am J Obstet Gynecol. 1979 Jun 1;134(3):347–348. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9378(16)33045-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Kleinman C. S., Donnerstein R. L., DeVore G. R., Jaffe C. C., Lynch D. C., Berkowitz R. L., Talner N. S., Hobbins J. C. Fetal echocardiography for evaluation of in utero congestive heart failure. N Engl J Med. 1982 Mar 11;306(10):568–575. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198203113061003. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Kleinman C. S., Donnerstein R. L., Jaffe C. C., DeVore G. R., Weinstein E. M., Lynch D. C., Talner N. S., Berkowitz R. L., Hobbins J. C. Fetal echocardiography. A tool for evaluation of in utero cardiac arrhythmias and monitoring of in utero therapy: analysis of 71 patients. Am J Cardiol. 1983 Jan 15;51(2):237–243. doi: 10.1016/s0002-9149(83)80042-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Kleinman C. S., Hobbins J. C., Jaffe C. C., Lynch D. C., Talner N. S. Echocardiographic studies of the human fetus: prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart disease and cardiac dysrhythmias. Pediatrics. 1980 Jun;65(6):1059–1067. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lingman G., Ohrlander S., Ohlin P. Intrauterine digoxin treatment of fetal paroxysmal tachycardia. Case report. Br J Obstet Gynaecol. 1980 Apr;87(4):340–342. doi: 10.1111/j.1471-0528.1980.tb04552.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Newburger J. W., Keane J. F. Intrauterine supraventricular tachycardia. J Pediatr. 1979 Nov;95(5 Pt 1):780–786. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(79)80736-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. O'Brien T. F., Hopkins J. D., Gilleece E. S., Medeiros A. A., Kent R. L., Blackburn B. O., Holmes M. B., Reardon J. P., Vergeront J. M., Schell W. L. Molecular epidemiology of antibiotic resistance in salmonella from animals and human beings in the United States. N Engl J Med. 1982 Jul 1;307(1):1–6. doi: 10.1056/NEJM198207013070101. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Radford D. J., Izukawa T., Rowe R. D. Congenital paroxysmal atrial tachycardia. Arch Dis Child. 1976 Aug;51(8):613–617. doi: 10.1136/adc.51.8.613. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Stewart P. A., Tonge H. M., Wladimiroff J. W. Arrhythmia and structural abnormalities of the fetal heart. Br Heart J. 1983 Dec;50(6):550–554. doi: 10.1136/hrt.50.6.550. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Teuscher A., Bossi E., Imhof P., Erb E., Stocker F. P., Weber J. W. Effect of propranolol on fetal tachycardia in diabetic pregnancy. Am J Cardiol. 1978 Aug;42(2):304–307. doi: 10.1016/0002-9149(78)90916-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Archives of Disease in Childhood are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES