Catheter-Based Foetal Cardiac Interventions: Literature Review.

BACKGROUND

Foetal cardiac interventions (FCIs) represent a groundbreaking advancement in maternal-foetal medicine, offering therapeutic strategies to address congenital heart defects (CHDs) in utero.

SUMMARY: The indications, techniques, complications, and outcomes of the three most reported FCIs, namely, foetal aortic valvuloplasty, foetal pulmonary valvuloplasty, and foetal atrial septal intervention, were systematically reviewed based on the published literature. The challenges and future directions of this field were also highlighted.

KEY MESSAGES: FCIs open the therapeutic opportunity of several severe CHDs. However, the selection of cases for best outcome is yet to be refined due to lack of randomized controlled trial.