ORIGINAL STUDY FETAL CARDIOMYOPATHIES

Fetal cardiomyopathies (CM) are rare diseases with an incidence of about 6-11% of all fetal cardiac diseases. Although the prenatal diagnosis of most f etal structural heart defects and dysrhythmias has been described previously, there is a paucity of informa tion about CM in prenatal life (1). There are few e vidences and very few information about the natural history before, during and after the birth of the fetuses a ffected by these diseases.Fetal cardiomyopathies can be analys ed by studying atrial and ventricular contraction u sing B and M-mode echocardiography. A haemodynamic evaluat ion can be performed by Doppler mode. In this revie w we reported the typical findings of dilatative card iomiopathy, of hypertrophic cardiomiopathy and of r estrictive cardiomiopathy in fetuses. The prognosis is poor, e xcept for the Hypertrophic cardiomiopathy associate d with hyperglycaemia.