An: 2011, Nr.1, Articol Nr. 1

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      THE THREE DIMENSIONAL ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN THE STUDY OF FETAL NASAL BONES, AT THE SCREENING OF 12 14 GESTATIONAL WEEKS (Abstract): The 3D multiplanar ultrasound is lately used for the study of the fetal face. The possibility of acquiring a volume which includes the whole fetal cephalic extremity, with further processing in various sections of nasal bone imaging, has opened new perspectives on the study of an ultrasound sign as a call for genetic syndromes. The aim of the paper is to assess the utility of acquiring of a single volume 3D, for the study of both nasal bones in the normal fetus. Material and method: A lot of 20 pregnant women, with a unique pregnancy and normal fetal echo structure, who had come at the screening of 12 14 gestational weeks, were scanned with an ultrasound machine, equipped with abdominal and vaginal 3D transducer, with a volume that included the acquisition of fetal head with the ultrasound beam direction directly to the fetus face, with an angle between the transducer and the long axis of the nose close to 45ş. Further analysis of the volume through multislice technique, to obtain an oblique transverse section of the skull along the nasal bones, could lead to simultaneous evidence of the two nasal bones, with their measurement. Results: All the fetuses had an acquire of 3D volume, satisfactory in terms of further processing of the image, obtaining optimal section comprising “top” sight of both, whole nasal bones. The average duration of volume processing, up to the oblique cross section described, was 20 minutes. Conclusions: The acquire of a single volume of the cephalic extremity, with the fetal face towards the ultrasound transducer, is a reliable method to obtain a section of the two nasal bones, at the time of the screening of 12 14 gestational weeks.

Key words: FETUS, NASAL BONE, 3D MULTIPLANAR ULTRASOUND