Ultrasonic Biophysical Measurements in the Normal Human Fetus for Optimal Design of the Monolithic Fetal Pacemaker

Ultrasonic Biophysical Measurements in the Normal Human Fetus for Optimal Design of the Monolithic
Fetal Pacemaker
Evgueni Fayn, MD, Howard A. Chou, PhD, DaeGyun Park, MD, PhD, Daniel H. Zavitz, MSc, Bettina F. Cuneo, MD, Vicki L. Mahan, MD, Mehmet Guleçyuz, MD, Letitia Curran, RDMS, David Lipson, PhD,
Edmond W. Quillen, Jr., PhD, Boris M. Petrikovsky, MD, PhD, and Marc Ovadia, MD

Ultrasound measurements, including xiphoid-to-pericardial distance and deployment angle, were made on human fetuses as a function of gestational age for the purpose of assessing the likelihood of 3 failure modes of a monolithic fetal pacemaker, including primary positioning failure due to device length and secondary dislodgement failure due to somatic growth. The small variation of the measurements over the gestational age range relevant to device implantation for the major indications of the device (for complete heart block complicated by hydrops and for bradycardia risk after fetal surgery or intrauterine intervention) predicts a small likelihood of these failure modes.

Copyright 2005 by Excerpta Medica Inc.
(Am J Cardiol 2005;95:1267–1270)