Abstract
In recent years, with the increasing number of women in advanced maternal age and standardized protocol of prenatal examination in China, more fetuses have been detected with scoliosis caused by hemivertebra (HV). The objective of this study was to obtain the responses of different populations on early detected scoliosis in fetuses caused by spinal hemivertebra through a multi-dimensional survey. A self-administered anonymous web and social media-based multi-dimensional online survey were conducted. Four short questionnaires concerning fetuses with scoliosis secondary to hemivertebra were sent to spine/orthopedic surgeons, obstetricians/ultrasonologists, scoliosis patients, and the non-medical general public separately. Survey items mainly included whether continue the pregnancy, the responses of different populations, whether they have knowledge of HV and what they wanted to know most about HV among the general public group, etc. All the questions were single choice questions, and additional responses could be added if needed. A total of 5586 respondents including 647 spine surgeons, 227 orthopaedic surgeons, 350 obstetricians, 54 ultrasonologists, 246 scoliosis patients and 4062 general public participated in the survey. 41.89% spine surgeons, 25.99% orthopedic surgeons, 6.57% obstetricians, 17.48% scoliosis patients and 19.23% general public chose to continue pregnancy and seek treatment after birth. 4.02% spine surgeons, 7.49% orthopedic surgeons, 3.71% obstetricians, 26.83% scoliosis patients and 14.28% non-medical general public suggested or chose to terminate the pregnancy. 54.10% spine surgeons, 66.52% orthopedic surgeons suggested explain the pros and cons to the parents and let them make their own choices.
Results of complex prenatal examination of fetuses with omphalocele
