Objective To investigate the volume of intracranial structures in fetuses with congenital heart disease (CHD). Methods

VVI is a novel noninvasive tool for quantitative assessment of regional systolic and diastolic function of the fetal heart. Fetal myocardial velocity, strain, and strain rate measurements can be measured easily and reproducibly. This technique is useful for evaluating cardiac function.

The calculation of Z-scores for heart sizes as a function of fetal somatic size is simple and may be useful for quantitative assessment of some cardiac diseases, particularly cardiomegaly caused by homozygous α-thalassemia-1.