A novel artificial intelligence model for fetal facial profile marker measurement during the first trimester

BACKGROUND: To study the validity of an artificial intelligence (AI) model for measuring fetal facial profile markers, and to evaluate the clinical value of the AI model for identifying fetal abnormalities during the first trimester. METHODS: This retrospective study used two-dimensional mid-sagittal fetal profile images taken during singleton pregnancies at 11–13(+ 6) weeks of gestation. We measured the facial profile markers, including inferior facial angle (IFA), maxilla-nasion-mandible (MNM) angle, facial-maxillary angle (FMA), frontal space (FS) distance, and profile line (PL) distance using AI and manual measurements. Semantic segmentation and landmark localization were used to develop an AI model to measure the selected markers and evaluate the diagnostic value for fetal abnormalities. The consistency between AI and manual measurements was compared using intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC). The diagnostic value of facial markers measured using the AI model during fetal abnormality screening was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. RESULTS: A total of 2372 normal fetuses and 37 with abnormalities were observed, including 18 with trisomy 21, 7 with trisomy 18, and 12 with CLP. Among them, 1872 normal fetuses were used for AI model training and validation, and the remaining 500 normal fetuses and all fetuses with abnormalities were used for clinical testing. The ICCs (95%CI) of the IFA, MNM angle, FMA, FS distance, and PL distance between the AI and manual measurement for the 500 normal fetuses were 0.812 (0.780–0.840), 0.760 (0.720–0.795), 0.766 (0.727-0.800), 0.807 (0.775–0.836), and 0.798 (0.764–0.828), respectively. IFA clinically significantly identified trisomy 21 and trisomy 18, with areas under the ROC curve (AUC) of 0.686 (95%CI, 0.585–0.788) and 0.729 (95%CI, 0.621–0.837), respectively. FMA effectively predicted trisomy 18, with an AUC of 0.904 (95%CI, 0.842–0.966). MNM angle and FS distance exhibited good predictive value in CLP, with AUCs of 0.738 (95%CI, 0.573–0.902) and 0.677 (95%CI, 0.494–0.859), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The consistency of fetal facial profile marker measurements between the AI and manual measurement was good during the first trimester. The AI model is a convenient and effective tool for the early screen for fetal trisomy 21, trisomy 18, and CLP, which can be generalized to first-trimester scanning (FTS).