J C Huhta

Publications (2)17.86 Total impact

• Article: Diagnosis and management of fetal cardiac tumors: a multicenter experience and review of published reports.

  D G Holley, G R Martin, J I Brenner, D A Fyfe, J C Huhta, C S Kleinman, S B Ritter, N H Silverman
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  ABSTRACT: We sought to determine the prevalence and natural history of cardiac tumors in patients referred for fetal echocardiography. Cardiac tumors are rare; the prevalence, reported from autopsy studies of patients of all ages, varies from 0.0017% to 0.28%. Despite many case reports, the prevalence and natural history of fetal cardiac tumors are unclear. Fourteen thousand fetal echocardiograms recorded over an 8-year period in seven centers were available for retrospective review. Medical records and echocardiograms were studied to determine the reason for referral, family history of tuberous sclerosis, prenatal and postnatal course and tumor description and type. Cardiac tumors were present in 19 pregnancies (0.14%). Gestational age at diagnosis ranged from 21 to 38 weeks. The most common indication for referral was a mass on an obstetric ultrasound study. The tumors were singular in 10 patients and multiple in 9. Tumor size ranged from 0.4 x 0.4 to 3.5 x 4 cm, and the majority of tumors were not hemodynamically significant. There were 17 patients with rhabdomyomas, 1 with a fibroma and 1 with an atrial hemangioma. Tuberous sclerosis complex was diagnosed in 10 patients. Partial or complete tumor regression was seen in eight patients; tumors were unchanged in five; and three required operation. Fetal cardiac tumors, a rare condition, are often benign. The majority of tumors are rhabdomyomas, but not all fetuses with rhabdomyoma have tuberous sclerosis.
  Journal of the American College of Cardiology 09/1995; 26(2):516-20. · 14.16 Impact Factor
• Article: Doppler echocardiography in the human fetus.

  C S Kleinman, J C Huhta, N H Silverman
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  ABSTRACT: Fetal echocardiography has allowed prenatal diagnosis of heart disease to become a reality over the last decade. Recently, pulsed Doppler flow studies have been applied to the examination of the fetal cardiovascular system. In fetuses with dysrhythmias, complex structural heart malformations, nonimmune hydrops fetalis, or mothers receiving nonsteroidal prostaglandin synthetase inhibitors, pulsed Doppler echocardiographic studies are clinically indicated. These studies involve noninvestigational tests that provide information of critical clinical import. These studies may occasionally, require energy intensities that exceed the 510(k) limits. The physician should be held responsible for educating patients to the potential risks versus benefits of any imaging study they undergo, but appending potentially alarming labels to transducers, machines, or cathode-ray tube displays can only serve to undermine the fabric of the physician-patient relationship without achieving the desired goal of protection of the patient.
  Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography 1(4):287-90. · 3.71 Impact Factor