Measurement of the Area and Circumference of the Leg: Preliminary Results of a New Method for Estimating Leg Muscle Trophism in Fetuses With Open Lumbosacral Spina Bifida.

Objective: To standardize a new technique to evaluate the fetal leg muscle trophism by measuring the area and circumference, and comparing this technique between normal and fetuses with open lumbosacral spina bifida (SB).

Methods: Observational cross-sectional study was carried out on pregnant women with 26 weeks who were divided into two groups: Group I-fetuses with diagnosis of open lumbosacral SB; Group II-normal fetuses (control). In fetuses with SB, subjective evaluation of the lower limbs was performed (muscle echogenicity and leg movements).

Screening of Congenital Heart Diseases by Three-Dimensional Ultrasound Using Spatiotemporal Image Correlation: Influence of Professional Experience.

Objective: To evaluate the feasibility of the use of spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) as a screening program for congenital heart disease and the influence of professional experience in those examinations.

Methods: This prospective cross-sectional study included 64 pregnant women at gestational age between 20 and 34 weeks, and 12 physician participants who were divided into two groups: group 1-"STIC specialist"; and group 2-"STIC nonspecialist." Volumes were analyzed to obtain the five axial views for optimal fetal heart screening: abdominal situs, four-chamber view (4CV), outflow tract views (OTV), and three vessels and trachea view (3VT).

The occipitum-dens line: the purpose of a new ultrasonographic landmark in the evaluation of the relationship between the foetal posterior fossa structures and foramen magnum.

Purpose: The aims of this study were to describe a new ultrasonographic technique to assess the normal level of the cerebellum and the brainstem in the posterior fossa in normal foetuses and to compare in pathologic cases.

Methods: We propose a new line cross between the dens cervical and the inferior portion of occipitum (occipitum-dens line-ODL). In a cross-sectional study, a single observer with experience in foetal neurosonography evaluated 54 foetuses (40 normal and 14 with open neural tube defect) between 20 and 28 weeks of gestation.

Assessment of cerebral circulation in normal fetuses by three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography.

Objective: To assess the three-dimensional power Doppler ultrasonography (3D power Doppler) vascular indices in the middle cerebral artery (MCA), anterior cerebral artery (ACA) and posterior cerebral artery (PCA) territories.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was carried out on 111 normal pregnancies between 26 and 34 weeks. The MCA, ACA and PCA territories closest to the transducer were scanned and volumes were calculated by using the VOCAL (Virtual Organ Computer-aided Analysis) program.

Morphological evaluation of lateral ventricles of fetuses with ventriculomegaly by three-dimensional ultrasonography and magnetic resonance imaging: correlation with etiology.

Purpose: To evaluate morphology of lateral ventricles of ventriculomegaly/hydrocephaly fetuses using 3D-sonography by virtual organ computer-aided analysis (VOCAL) technique and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and verify morphologic patterns related to etiology.

Methods: Seventeen fetuses presenting with ventricular enlargement (atria > 10 mm) were evaluated. 3D datasets were acquired from a coronal reference plane and post-processed by the rotational imaging using VOCAL 30°.