Diagnostic value of four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC combined with two-dimensional ultrasonography for fetal cardiac malformation and chromosomal abnormalities in early pregnancy

Diagnostic value of four-dimensional ultrasonography with spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) technique combined with two-dimensional ultrasonography for fetal cardiac malformation and chromosomal abnormalities in early pregnancy was investigated. Medical data of 178 pregnant women enrolled in Tianjin Central Hospital of Gynecology and Obstetrics for screening of fetal cardiac malformations and chromosomal abnormalities from January 2014 to March 2016 were collected. According to the results of the pregnant women's biopsy and the results of labor induction and delivery, 95 fetuses were diagnosed with chromosomal abnormalities and cardiac malformations, 40 fetuses with cardiac malformations and no chromosomal abnormalities, and 43 fetuses with neither cardiac malformations nor chromosomal abnormalities. Fetal cardiac malformations and chromosomal abnormalities were diagnosed by three methods: single two-dimensional ultrasonography, single four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC, and a combination of two-dimensional ultrasonography and four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC. The two-dimensional ultrasonography diagnosed 97 cases of fetal cardiac malformation and 61 cases of chromosomal abnormalities, four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC diagnosed 122 cases of fetal cardiac malformation and 81 cases of chromosomal abnormalities. The combination of two-dimensional ultrasonography and four-dimensional ultrasonography diagnosed 130 cases of fetal cardiac malformation and 90 cases of chromosomal abnormalities. The sensitivities of four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC and the combination of two-dimensional ultrasonography and four-dimensional ultrasonography were significantly higher than that of single examination by two-dimensional ultrasonography (P<0.05), while the diagnostic sensitivities by four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC and the combined diagnosis were not statistically significant (P>0.05). The diagnostic accordance rates of the single four-dimensional ultrasonography and the combined diagnosis for fetal cardiac malformations and chromosomal abnormalities were not much different (P>0.05), but both were greatly higher than that of single two-dimensional ultrasonography diagnosis (P<0.05). Thus, a combination of four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC and two-dimensional ultrasonography is recommended for screening fetal defects.