Paper

Prenatal Diagnosis of a Patent Urachus Cyst with the Use of 2D, 3D, 4D Ultrasound and Fetal Magnetic Resonance Imaging
F. Fuchs^{a, f}, O. Picone^{a, d, e}, J.M. Levaillant^{a, d, e}, M. Mabille^b, A.E. Mas^c–e, R. Frydman^{a, d, e}, M.V. Senat^{a, f}

AP-HP, Services de
^aGynécologie-Obstétrique,
^bRadiologie et
^cAnatomopathologie,Hôpital Antoine Béclère,
^dINSERM, U 782, et
^eUniversité Paris Sud, UMR-S0782, Clamart, et
^fService d’Épidémiologie, Démographie et Sciences Sociales, Inserm U 822, Le Kremlin-Bicêtre, France

Address of Corresponding Author

Fetal Diagn Ther 2008;24:444-447 (DOI: 10.1159/000174572)

  Key Words

• Urachus cyst
• Prenatal diagnosis
• Ultrasound
• Umbilical cord cyst
• Patent urachus

  Abstract

Patent urachus cyst is a rare umbilical anomaly, which is poorly detected prenatally and frequently confounded with pseudo bladder exstrophy or omphalocele. A 27-year-old woman was referred to our prenatal diagnosis centre at 18 weeks of gestation after diagnosis of a megabladder and 2 umbilical cord cysts. Subsequent 2D, 3D and 4D ultrasound examinations and fetal magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) revealed a typical umbilical cyst and an extra-abdominal cyst, communicating with the vertex of the fetal bladder through a small channel that increased in size when the fetus voided urine. Termination of pregnancy occured at 31 weeks because of associated cerebral septal agenesis, and autopsy confirmed the prenatal diagnosis of urachus cyst. Few cases of urachus cyst diagnosed prenatally are reported in literature, but none were associated with other extra-abdominal disorders and none used 3D, 4D and fetal MRI. Our case illustrated the efficiency in prenatal diagnosis of 3D and 4D ultrasound examinations. This could help pediatrician surgeons to explain to a couple about neonatal surgical repair and plastic reconstruction in the prenatal period.

Copyright © 2008 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Olivier Picone
Hôpital Antoine Béclère
Service de Gynécologie-Obstétrique et Médecine de la Reproduction
157 rue de la porte de Trivaux, FR–92140 Clamart (France)
Tel. +33 1 45 37 44 41, Fax +33 1 45 37 43 66, E-Mail olivier.picone@abc.aphp.fr

  Article Information

Received: October 16, 2007
Accepted after revision: November 28, 2007
Published online: November 20, 2008
Number of Print Pages : 4
Number of Figures : 4, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 15