{"doi":"10.1002/ajum.12180","title":"Isolated ‘soft signs’ of fetal choroid plexus cysts or echogenic intracardiac focus – consequences of their continued reporting","abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract</jats:title><jats:sec><jats:title>Background</jats:title><jats:p>Choroid plexus cysts (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">CPC</jats:styled-content>) and echogenic intracardiac focus (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">EIF</jats:styled-content>) are obsolete soft markers found on morphology ultrasound and not a valid reason for adjusting fetal risk of aneuploidy.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Method</jats:title><jats:p>We conducted a retrospective audit of women referred to genetic counsellor and fetal medicine services at St George Hospital (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">SGH</jats:styled-content>) and the Royal Hospital for Women (<jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">RHW</jats:styled-content>) for <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">CPC</jats:styled-content> and <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">EIF</jats:styled-content> from 1 January 2006 to 31 December 2016 inclusive.</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Results</jats:title><jats:p>In total, 208 <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">CPC</jats:styled-content> and/or <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">EIF</jats:styled-content> referrals were identified, 118 (57%) of which were for isolated <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">CPC</jats:styled-content> and/or <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">EIF</jats:styled-content> and 102 (49%) occurring in women low risk for aneuploidy prior to morphology ultrasound. Significantly, more women had undergone combined first‐trimester screening in the 2014 to 2016 epoch vs. previous years at both <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">SGH</jats:styled-content> (P = 0.03) and <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">RHW</jats:styled-content> (P = 0.004). However, the number of women referred for <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">CPC</jats:styled-content> and <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">EIF</jats:styled-content> remained relatively constant. No fetus was born with a major structural or chromosomal abnormality in the group of low‐risk women with isolated signs. However, 18% of these women were referred to both genetic counselling and fetal medicine services, 7% had <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">NIPT</jats:styled-content> after morphology, 14% had amniocentesis, and 33% had additional ultrasound(s).</jats:p></jats:sec><jats:sec><jats:title>Conclusion</jats:title><jats:p>Despite advances in screening technology, low‐risk women are still referred to specialist services for these 2 soft signs and undergoing unnecessary follow‐up, <jats:styled-content style=\"fixed-case\">NIPT</jats:styled-content> and amniocentesis.</jats:p></jats:sec>","journal":"Australasian Journal of Ultrasound in Medicine","year":2019,"id":605776,"datarank":0.32958368660043297,"base_score":2.1972245773362196,"endowment":2.1972245773362196,"self_citation_contribution":0.32958368660043297,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.32958368660043297,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":8,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1554798,"name":"Alec Welsh","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1554799,"name":"Amy Howat","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1554800,"name":"Dominic Ross","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":598799,"name":"Amanda Henry","orcid":"0000-0002-7351-8922","position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1554797,"name":"Grace Prentice","orcid":"0000-0003-0767-8896","position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":false,"title":null,"abstract":null,"is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":0.0,"endowment":0.0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"openalex_id":null,"authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[],"oa_status":null,"license":null,"oa_locations":[],"fields_of_study":[],"mesh_terms":[],"keywords":[],"sdg_mappings":[],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-30T03:12:56.245099Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}