FETAL BREATHING CHARACTERISTICS AND POSTNATAL OUTCOME IN CASES OF CONGENITAL DIAPHRAGMATIC-HERNIA

OBJECTIVE: Our purpose was to determine characteristics of fetal breathing activity by recording fetal nasal fluid flow velocity in cases of congenital diaphragmatic hernia. STUDY DESIGN: Fetal breathing-related nasal fluid flow was studied in 47 patients at 34 to 41 weeks of gestation, 16 cases of antenatally diagnosed congenital diaphragmatic hernia and 31 cases of uncomplicated pregnancy. The examination was performed by ultrasonography combined with color-flow and spectral Doppler analysis. An average of 25 breath cycles from each case was determined for each of the following timing parameters: breath-to-breath interval, time of inspiration, time of expiration, and ratio of time of inspiration and time of expiration. RESULTS: In all cases with uncomplicated pregnancy fetal breathing-related nasal fluid flow was seen at the level of the nose, and the timing components of this flow were determined as control values. In two cases with diaphragmatic hernia no perinasal flow was demonstrated, although fetal breathing movements observed as chest wall movements were present. The other 14 cases with congenital diaphragmatic hernia who demonstrated perinasal flow had the following postnatal outcome: one stillbirth, five neonatal deaths (group I), and eight survived and were discharged (group II), The study revealed that the time of expiration (in milliseconds) in group II (493.2 +/- 34.3 SEM) was significantly (p = 0.0030) shorter than in group I (653.4 +/- 38.4) and in cases of uncomplicated pregnancy (633.6 +/- 18.5). The value of the time of inspiration/time of expiration ratio in group II was approximately 15% higher than in group I and approximately 30% higher than in cases of uncomplicated pregnancies. CONCLUSIONS: Observation of fetal breathing-related nasal fluid flow velocity in cases of antenatally diagnosed congenital diaphragmatic hernia provides a rationale for the hypothesis that time of expiration and the time of inspiration/time of expiration ratio may be useful in the prediction of postnatal outcome. We speculate that the changes in the group of survivors may represent a compensatory phenomenon by causing intermittent changes in the volume of fluid within the lungs.