Objective To systematically review the prognosis of fetal isolated hyper echogenic kidneys (IHEK) on prenatal ultrasound examination. Methods PubMed, EMbase, Web of Science, WanFang Data, and CNKI databases were electronically searched to collect cross-sectional studies on the prognosis of fetal IHEK on prenatal ultrasound examination from January 1990 to January 2021. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and assessed the risk of bias of included studies; then, meta-analysis was performed by using R 3.5.2 software. Results A total of 9 cross-sectional studies involving 348 fetuses were included. The results of meta-analysis showed that the incidence rate of live births was 79% (95%CI 69% to 88%), termination of pregnancy/neonatal mortality (TOP/NND) was 30% (95%CI 15% to 45%), normal kidneys was 34% (95%CI 15% to 53%), autosomal recessive polycystic kidney disease (ARPKD) was 21% (95%CI 12% to 30%), autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) was 13% (95%CI 5% to 21%), and multicystic dysplastic kidney (MCDK) was 4% (95%CI 2% to 7%). Subgroup analysis showed that the prognosis of normal amniotic fluid subgroup was significantly superior to that of reduced amniotic fluid subgroup. Conclusion Current evidence shows that the incidence of adverse pregnancy outcomes in patients with IHEK on prenatal ultrasound examination is high, the prognosis is superior when IHEK with normal amniotic fluid volume, and is worse when with small amniotic fluid volume. Due to limited quality and quantity of the included studies, more high-quality studies are required to verify the above conclusion.

Citation： WEI Niya, LI Xiaokun, WANG Yue. Prognosis of fetal isolated hyper echogenic kidneys on prenatal ultrasound examination: a meta-analysis. Chinese Journal of Evidence-Based Medicine, 2022, 22(2): 154-159. doi: 10.7507/1672-2531.202109128 Copy