Role of Tomographic Ultrasound Imaging With Spatiotemporal Image Correlation for Identifying Fetal Ventricular Septal Defects

Abstract

Objective. The purpose of this study was to test the possibility of diagnosing ventricular septal defects (VSDs) by using tomographic ultrasound imaging (TUI) on 4-dimensional volumes of the fetal chest obtained with spatiotemporal image correlation and the color Doppler function. Methods. We retrospectively evaluated the 4-dimensional spatiotemporal image correlation volumes of 8 fetuses with VSDs (single in 7 and double in 1) between 20 and 33 weeks' gestation. The data were analyzed to determine whether VSDs were correctly identified in at least 1 of 7 automatically generated TUI displays. Results. All of the included VSDs were correctly identified with the use of an interslice distance in the TUI function ranging from 0.8 to 2 mm without the need to further manipulate the volume.Conclusions. This automatic approach shows good retrieval of diagnostic cardiac planes in fetuses with VSDs, which may improve the diagnostic accuracy for this disease.

Role of Sonographic Automatic Volume Calculation in Measuring Fetal Cardiac Ventricular Volumes Using 4-Dimensional Sonography

“…Volume data sets were acquired with a Voluson E8 ultrasound machine (GE Healthcare, Milwaukee, WI) equipped with a 4-to 8-MHz transducer according to a previously reported technique 20 starting with a reference plane from the 4-chamber view of the fetal heart. To standardize and optimize the imaging quality of the fetal heart in acquired volumes and to obtain clear cardiac internal limits, the following preset settings were used: dynamic contrast, 8; echo enhancement, 3; rejection, 25; harmonic imaging, mid; speckle reduction imaging, 4; and crossbeam compound resolution imaging, 2.…”

Contemporary clinical applications of spatio-temporal image correlation in prenatal diagnosis

“…The user can adjust the number and position of the slices with specific controls. TUI has been used for the examination of the fetal heart [65][66][67][68] and other fetal organs [69]. However, the simple use of parallel planes to the four-chamber view of the heart does not allow for the visualization of the long-axis view of the left outflow tract and the shortaxis view of the aorta, which are considered part of an integral examination of the fetal heart [4-6,70].…”

Application of Spatial and Temporal Image Correlation in the Fetal Heart Evaluation

“…It has many advantages and is utilized often by many examiners. 7,[12][13][14] Tomography allows for the viewing of multiple slices of the same image, by means of 1, 3, 5, 8, 11 or 15 sections on one screen along with a reference image, which is perpendicular to the tomographic sections with an overlay of the tomographic lines of slices. The distance between the slices can be set with equal or any distances.…”