Congenital anterior abdominal wall defects: 4 years case series

Congenital anterior abdominal wall defects are rare structural anomalies. Early detection of these cases and associated anomalies, if any and early hospitalization and early care of babies after birth affect the prognosis. This study was conducted to examine the frequency of live births, prenatal diagnosis rates, demographic and clinical data of patients diagnosed with anterior abdominal wall defects who were born in our hospital and followed in our neonatal intensive care unit within a 4-year period. The demographic and clinical data of 23 patients who were hospitalized with the diagnosis of anterior abdominal wall defect between June-2015 and October 2019 were retrospectively analyzed, and patient files were scanned. In this study, most of the anterior abdominal wall defects admitted to our hospital were diagnosed during delivery. Only 5 cases followed antenatally were hospitalized with prenatal diagnosis. Most of the cases in the study consisted of babies from pregnancies without follow-up. The majority of cases were babies with omphalocele (56.5%). The total mortality rate of the cases was 26.1%. Concomitant anomalies were the most important factor affecting mortality and morbidity. The majority of patients with anterior abdominal wall defects were patients with omphalocele. In these cases, the prenatal diagnosis rate was quite low. Close follow up pregnant women in antenatal period and to provide giving births in centers with III-IV level NICU would be effective in reducing mortality and morbidity.