Role of tomographic ultrasound imaging with spatiotemporal image correlation for identifying fetal ventricular septal defects.

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.