Objective: Fetal venous system malformations frequently coincide with cardiac or extracardiac anomalies. This study explores our experience with an integrated fetal echocardiography approach and analyzes the characteristics and outcomes of fetal venous system disorders.
Materials And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study with 7048 pregnant women (7255 fetuses) who underwent complete two-dimensional (2D) fetal echocardiographic examinations.
On the basis of 2-dimensional fetal echocardiographic findings, we investigated 4 different fetal vascular ring cases using spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) combined with high-definition (HD) flow imaging. An in-depth 3-dimensional perspective of aortic arch branching (ie, the brachiocephalic arteries) was created by application of glass body and HDlive flow rendering algorithms (GE Healthcare, Zipf, Austria). Additionally, complete (U- or O-shaped) or incomplete (C-shaped) vascular rings were clearly differentiated in utero, and articulations around the trachea and esophagus were more easily imaged.
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