Successful Treatment of Fetal Congestive Heart Failure Secondary to Tachycardia

Abstract

FETAL cardiac arrhythmia is being detected with increasing frequency as a result of continuous electronic monitoring of the fetal heart rate. Most of these cases have been recognized during labor, and a few have been identified during the early antepartum period.^{1 2 3 4 5 6} Most fetal cardiac arrhythmias have had a favorable outcome,^{2 3 4} but among the reported adverse neonatal sequelae is persistence of a supraventricular tachycardia in the newborn with or without subsequent congestive heart failure.^{2 , 5 , 7} We report a case of fetal tachycardia in which congestive heart failure developed in utero. The problem was identified at 26 weeks' gestation and treated successfully by . . .