Isolated Pericardial Effusion and Transient Abnormal Myelopoiesis in a Fetus with Down's Syndrome

• Published in: The Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology research Vol. 26; no. 4; pp. 303 - 306
• Main Authors: Hirashima, Chikako, Eguchi, Yukari, Kohmura, Yasuhiro, Minakami, Hisanori, Sato, Ikuo
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford, UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.08.2000
• Subjects: Adult; antenatal diagnosis; Diagnosis, Differential; Down Syndrome - complications; Down Syndrome - diagnosis; Down Syndrome - embryology; Female; Fetal Diseases - diagnosis; Fetal Diseases - diagnostic imaging; Fetal Diseases - embryology; Humans; hypothyroidism; Hypothyroidism - complications; Hypothyroidism - diagnosis; Infant, Newborn; Leukopoiesis; Male; pericardial effusion; Pericardial Effusion - complications; Pericardial Effusion - diagnostic imaging; Pericardial Effusion - embryology; Pregnancy; Prenatal Diagnosis; transient abnormal myelopoiesis; trisomy; Ultrasonography
• ISSN: 1341-8076; 1447-0756
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1447-0756.2000.tb01326.x

Isolated pericardial effusion was detected in a fetus at 34 weeks of gestation. A male infant weighing 2,044 g was born by cesarean section because of a non‐assuring fetal heart rate pattern at 35 weeks of gestation. Transient leukocytosis (36,100/μl) with 49% blast cells was seen in this neonate. The infant's karyotype was 47, XY + 21. The pericardial effusion disappeared after treatment with prednisolone at a dose of 2 mg/kg/day. Hypothyroidism was subsequently found. Thus, the subject patient with Down's syndrome developed isolated pericardial effusion, transient abnormal myelopoiesis (TAM), and hypothyroidism. Because more than 20% of the infants with TAM and Down's syndrome develop acute nonlymphocytic leukemia in early childhood, he is being closely observed.