Congenital talipes equinovarus: frequency of associated malformations not identified by prenatal ultrasound

What is it about?

The couple whose fetus has been found by prenatal screening to have unilateral or bilateral “isolated” clubfoot deformity faces several uncertainties: 1) Will the fetus with “isolated” clubfoot deformity be shown in subsequent imaging to have associated malformations? 2) Will the prenatal diagnosis of clubfoot turn out not to be correct at birth, that is a “false positive” finding? 3) Will the fetus with “isolated” clubfoot be found at birth to have additional abnormalities that could not be visualized in the imaging by ultrasound? This study is an analysis of the last of these uncertainties: the likelihood that the fetus with “isolated” clubfoot will be found at birth to have additional anomalies upon physical examination. This question has been addressed in a consecutive sample of affected infants identified at birth in an active malformations surveillance program at a tertiary maternity hospital in Boston.

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Why is it important?

For the purpose of counseling the parents of fetuses diagnosed prenatally as having "isolated" unilateral or bilateral club foot deformity. This study addresses the possibility of identifying additional anomalies at birth that were not detected by routine prenatal ultrasound imagining.