The acquisition of ultrasonographic volume and new computer graphic working windows, using three scanning and three dimensional models, provides highly defined information from ultrasonographic signals.3d ultrasound, three-dimensional ultrasound, three dimensional ultrasound, 3d rendering, surface rendering, 3dview, 3d view, obstetrics, gynecology, fetal medicine, prenatal diagnosis, ultrasound, multiplanar ultrasound, volume, fetal brain, fetal face, fetus, kretz, medison, ge, atl, Mariano Iaccarino, Ricardo Laurini, varvarigos, isuog.The first ultrasound equipment on the market, for volume acquisition and multiplanar examination, was presented in Paris, at the World Congress for Diagnostic Imaging in 1989. Successively in 1991 Combison 530 allows the first 3D rendering of fetal face. Since then, there has been much improvement – the most remarkable one being the introduction of digital equipment, which, compared to the initial analog technology, provide much better images. WHICH ARE THE FIELDS OF APPLICATION FOR 3D AND MP ULTRASOUND IN OBSTETRICS AND GYNAECOLOGY? In obstetrics the technique can be employed to study: • The fetal brain and its malformations • The fetal heart and its malformations • The facial features (lips, dental palate and arc) • The fetal ears (auricle) • The spinal column and its malformations • Limbs, hands and feet. In gynaecology the technique can be employed to study: • The uterus, its related malformations and pathologies • The ovaries and related pathologies. T3D ultrasound was introduced in Obstetrics and Gynecology in 1989. Although the three-dimensional reconstruction of the fetus’s face and body is the most striking feature of this methodology, its diagnostic potential remains low. Its advantages are: The acquisition of fetal volume, which undoubtedly contains a larger body of information compared to the corresponding ultrasound scan; - The availability of graphic windows with greater discriminating ability than the classical B-mode images. The most important one is the multiplanar image/rendering, which allows a comparative evaluation of voxel point on three orthogonal planes. It allows the simultaneous visualization of the voxel point of a spatially complex structure (i.e., the fetal brain or heart, a uterine malformation, etc), on three orthogonal planes.
Three-dimensional rendering requires further evaluation, to fully unravel its diagnostic potential, especially since the introduction of real time 3D (which is different from real-time volume). Real-time 3D enables the observation of fetal motorial activity and facial expressions. You will now be able to see some images illustrating the diagnostic elements that can be obtained by 3D plastic reconstruction.
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