Ballantyne syndrome associated with fetal cardiac rhabdomyoma: a case report

Ballantyne syndrome or mirror syndrome was first described in 1892. It is a disorder affecting pregnant women describing the association of fetal anasarca complicated by more or less generalized maternal edema and albuminuria (and sometimes anemia). It is a rare clinical entity. Diagnosis is based on a triad consisting of fetal hydrops, generalized maternal edema and placentomegaly. It can be associated with fetal hydrops from any cause. Diagnostic should be suspected in patients with maternal edema syndrome associated with fetal anasarca. Guarded fetal prognosis can be associated with high maternal morbidity; hence the need for early diagnosis, resting on a clear determination of its cause, and aimed to implement antenatal treatment improving maternal and fetal prognosis. We here report a unique case of Ballantyne syndrome which has never been described in the literature. The study involved a 32-year-old female patient with fetal hydrops caused by fetal cardiac rhabdomyoma.