Intervillous and uteroplacental circulation in normal early pregnancy and early pregnancy loss assessed by 3-dimensional power Doppler angiography.

Objective: To assess intervillous and uteroplacental circulation in early normal pregnancies and miscarriages.

Study Design: One hundred normal pregnancies and 46 delayed miscarriages were evaluated by 3-dimensional vaginal ultrasound and power Doppler angiography. Volumes of the early placenta and the subplacental area were obtained between 5 and 12.

Three-dimensional volume sonographic study of fetal anatomy: intraobserver reproducibility and effect of examiner experience.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of 3-dimensional (3D) sonography in assessing fetal anatomy and to determine the intraobserver reproducibility and the effect of examiner experience.

Methods: Three-dimensional volumes of the head, face, thorax, and abdomen were obtained for 40 fetuses. The volume data sets obtained were explored offline with multiplanar navigation and tomographic ultrasound imaging on a personal computer.

Fetal extremity kinetics quantified with Doppler ultrasonography.

Aims: To assess the responsive fetal extremity movement to vibro-acoustic stimulation test (VAST).

Methods: The moving velocity of fetal femur was assessed after VAST by pulsed Doppler device. The ultrasonic beam was insonated at a right angle to the fetal femur.

Clinical usefulness of 3-dimensional sonography and power Doppler angiography for diagnosis of endometrial carcinoma.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to assess whether endometrial volume (EV) and 3-dimensional (3D) power Doppler indices can discriminate between hyperplasia and endometrial carcinoma and can predict extension of the endometrial carcinoma.

Methods: Eighty-four women with uterine bleeding and a histopathologic diagnosis of endometrial hyperplasia (n = 29) or carcinoma (n = 55) were preoperatively examined by transvaginal 3D sonography and power Doppler angiography. Endometrial thickness (ET), EV, the vascularization index (VI), the flow index (FI), the vascularization-flow index (VFI), and the intratumoral resistive index (RI) were measured.

Are endometrial parameters by three-dimensional ultrasound and power Doppler angiography related to in vitro fertilization/embryo transfer outcome?

Objective: To evaluate whether endometrial parameters by three-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography (3D US-PDA) can predict in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (IVF/ICSI) outcome.

Design: Prospective clinical study.

Setting: Assisted reproduction unit in a referral hospital.

Prediction of ovarian response and IVF/ICSI outcome by three-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography.

Objective: The objective was to evaluate whether three-dimensional ultrasonography (3D-US) and power Doppler angiography (PDA) measurements can predict ovarian response and/or are associated with IVF/ICSI outcome.

Study Design: A prospective clinical study in 65 women undergoing IVF cycles. Ovarian volume (OV), number of antral follicles > or =2mm (NAF) and PDA indices: vascularisation index (VI), flow index (FI), and vascularisation flow index (VFI) were evaluated by 3D-US and PDA on the day of pituitary suppression control.

Tele-virtual sonography.

Objectives: 3D-Ultrasound reconstruction, routinely available since 1994, has brought new technical capabilities such as virtual sonography that can be tele-consulted. Our experience is summarized in the present paper.

Methods: During one year, 73 3D-US volumetric images coming from 34 patients were acquired and 68 were consulted at distance.

Assessment of the ovarian volume, number and volume of follicles and ovarian vascularity by three-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography on the HCG day to predict the outcome in IVF/ICSI cycles.

Objective: The aim of this prospective study was to investigate whether ovarian blood flow is related to embryological parameters and whether it could be a predictor of outcomes of IVF/ICSI.

Methods: Eighty infertile women underwent ovarian stimulation with gonadotrophins after a long protocol with GnRH agonists. The ovarian volume (OV), number of follicles (NF) and follicular volume (FV) of all follicles >10 mm and vascularization index (VI), flow index (FI) and vascularization-flow index (VFI) were obtained by three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography (PDA) on the day of HCG administration.

Structural and functional early human development assessed by three-dimensional and four-dimensional sonography.

Objective: To summarize the role of three-dimensional and four-dimensional ultrasound in the assessment of early human development.

Design: Review of literature.

Setting: Ultrasound research center and obstetrics and gynecology department in a tertiary care facility.

Endometrial volume and vascularity measurements by transvaginal three-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography in stimulated and tumoral endometria: intraobserver reproducibility.

Objectives: To assess intraobserver reproducibility of the endometrial volume (EV) and 3D power Doppler indices (vascularization index, VI; flow index, FI; and vascularization flow index, VFI) of the endometrium and subendometrial area using three-dimensional power Doppler angiography (3D-PDA).

Methods: Twenty-five women on the hCG day after controlled ovarian stimulation and 15 patients presenting with uterine bleeding and suspicious endometrial thickening (10 endometrial cancers and 5 endometrial hyperplasias) were scanned. Eighty volume data sets were analyzed using the VOCAL imaging program.

Assessment of placental vascularization by three-dimensional power Doppler "vascular biopsy" in normal pregnancies.

Aim: To describe the evolution of placental vascularization during a normal course of gestation and the blood flow 3D power Doppler indices obtained by "placental vascular biopsy."

Methods: A prospective study was carried out on 99 normal singleton pregnancies from 14 to 40 weeks. Placental vascularization was evaluated by 3D power Doppler ("placental biopsy").

Three-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler in ovarian cancer screening of asymptomatic peri- and postmenopausal women.

Aim: To determine whether introducing three-dimensional (3D) ultrasonography with power Doppler facilities as a secondary screening test, preceded by annual transvaginal grayscale ultrasonography (TVUS) (followed by transvaginal color Doppler (TVCD) in selected cases) as a primary screening test for ovarian cancer improves the accuracy of ovarian cancer screening studies.

Methods: Annual TVUS was performed on 3,201 peri- and postmenopausal asymptomatic women aged > or =50 years from March 1, 2001 to June 30, 2003. Cystic ovarian lesions in perimenopausal women were routinely reevaluated by TVUS and TVCD at 4-6 week intervals to avoid unnecessary surgical intervention for physiological cysts.

Intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of ovarian volume, antral follicle count, and vascularity indices obtained with transvaginal 3-dimensional ultrasonography, power Doppler angiography, and the virtual organ computer-aided analysis imaging program.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess intraobserver and interobserver reproducibility of the parameters of ovarian response and oocyte ability, studied by 3-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography (PDA), and the possible influence of the ovarian functional stage.

Methods: Twenty-nine women were included in an in vitro fertilization program. Fourteen women were evaluated after pituitary suppression (basal group), and 15 were scanned on the human chorionic gonadotropin administration day, after gonadotropin ovarian stimulation (stimulated group).

Endometrial volume and vascularity measurements by transvaginal 3-dimensional ultrasonography and power Doppler angiography in stimulated and tumoral endometria: an interobserver reproducibility study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate interobserver reproducibility of endometrial volume and vascular indices of the endometrium and subendometrial area estimated by 3-dimensional power Doppler angiography (3D-PDA) using the Virtual Organ Computer-Aided Analysis program, determining the influence of the endometrial growth etiology on measurements.

Methods: Forty women underwent 3D-PDA ultrasonography. Group A comprised 25 women scanned on the day after controlled ovarian stimulation with human chorionic gonadotropin.

Three-dimensional power Doppler vascular sampling: a new method for predicting ovarian cancer in vascularized complex adnexal masses.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to explore the role of a new concept ("vascular sampling") as a third step to discriminate benign and malignant lesions in B-mode and color Doppler sonographically suggestive adnexal masses.

Methods: Forty-five women (mean age, 52.3 years; range, 17-82 years) with the diagnosis of complex adnexal masses on B-mode sonography were evaluated using 3-dimensional power Doppler sonography.

Reproducibility of the study of placental vascularization by three-dimensional power Doppler.

Aims: To assess the reproducibility of 3D power Doppler study of placental vascularization in order to establish its methodological bases for its further application in normal and pathological pregnancies.

Methods: A prospective study was carried on 30 normal singleton pregnancies from 14 to 40 weeks. To evaluate placental vascularization 3D power Doppler was applied to obtain a "placental biopsy".

A new scoring system to differentiate benign from malignant adnexal masses.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to develop and cross-validate a new sonographic scoring system for differentiation between benign and malignant adnexal masses.

Study Design: This study was conducted in a tertiary care university hospital. In the first part of the study, we used a multivariate logistic regression analysis to develop a scoring system that was based on morphologic and Doppler sonographic data for 705 adnexal masses in 665 patients who were diagnosed and treated at our institution from January 1995 to June 2001.

Predicting difficult orotracheal intubation in pharyngo-laryngeal disease: preliminary results of a composite index.

Purpose: Prediction of difficulty in orotracheal intubation (DI) in patients undergoing laryngeal microsurgery should help reduce the morbidity-mortality associated with this clinical situation. To establish a simple score to predict this difficulty, we studied 11 variables and their association with DI in these patients.

Methods: The study included 181 patients.