Diagnostic performance of routine ultrasound screening for fetal abnormalities in an unselected Swedish population in 2000–2005

Abstract

In a screening program consisting of one fetal anomaly scan at 18 weeks and another at 32 weeks the detection rate of major malformations in chromosomally normal fetuses was 68% with a detection rate of 37% at < 22 weeks. The corresponding detection rates of chromosomally abnormal fetuses were 46% and 33%. Fewer than one in 500 screened fetuses had an ultrasound diagnosis of an anomaly that was not confirmed after birth.