Malformations reported in chorionic villus sampling exposed children: A review and analytic synthesis of the literature

Abstract

Purpose: To determine whether the frequency of vascular disruption defects, other than limb defects, is increased in reports of chorionic villus sampling (CVS) exposed children compared with an unexposed population. Methods: Only studies that reported the total number of CVS-exposed pregnancies and details of pregnancy outcome, including all the malformations, were included. Twenty-five articles met these criteria. Results: The frequencies of gastroschisis, intestinal atresias, and clubfoot were significantly increased among the CVS-exposed infants as compared with the baseline unexposed population. The frequencies of other vascular disruption defects, including Poland sequence, amniotic band sequence, and cleft lip/cleft palate, were not increased. Conclusion: CVS-exposed children have an increased frequency of intestinal atresia, gastroschisis, and clubfoot compared with the nonexposed population. The fact that an increased frequency of other defects attributed to vascular disruption was not found may be due to under-ascertainment, misclassification, or "lumping" of the defects identified in previous studies.