Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: The clinical value of color ultrasound screening for fetal cardiovascular abnormalities during the second trimester

Background: This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the diagnostic value of color ultrasound screening for fetal cardiovascular abnormalities during the second trimester in China. Methods: A literature search was conducted to evaluate the clinical value of color ultrasound screening for fetal cardiovascular abnormalities during the second trimester using English and Chinese databases. Numerical values for sensitivity and specificity were obtained from false-negative, false-positive, true-negative, and true-positive rates, presented alongside graphical representations with boxes marking the values and horizontal lines showing the confidence intervals. Summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curves were applied to assess the performance of the diagnostic tests. Data were processed using Review Manager 5.3. Results: Four studies (151 patients with fetal cardiovascular abnormalities and 3397 undiagnosed controls) met our evaluation criteria. The sensitivity was 0.91 and 0.96, respectively, and the specificity was 1.00. The Area Under the Curve (AUC) from the SROC curves was >90%; therefore, it was classified as excellent. Furthermore, there were 6 types of fetal cardiovascular abnormalities, and the pooled screening rate of atrioventricular septal defects was the highest. Conclusion: Our meta-analysis showed that the use of color ultrasound during the second trimester can be an excellent diagnostic tool for fetal cardiovascular abnormalities. Abbreviations: AUC = area under the curve, SROC = summary receiver operating characteristic.