Fetal echocardiography: a comparison of different techniques.
There is great availability on the market of echocardiographic instruments that have innovative technological systems which use second harmonic imaging. The true usefulness and applicability of these instruments in fetal echocardiography have yet to be verified. The objective of the present study was to verify the impact of this echographic technology in the diagnostic evaluation of the fetal cardiovascular system. Thus, an Acuson Sequoia echograph which uses native tissue harmonic imaging (NTHI) was used to examine 30 pregnant women between the 28th and 32nd week of gestation. The b-mode and m-mode images were acquired and recorded by the conventional method and by the second harmonic imaging method without contrast medium. Two experts in the field analyzed and compared the images recorded by the two methods and made diagnostic and qualitative judgements. The 30 cases examined were unanimously determined to have no visible echo pathologies. The morpho-biometric evaluation obtained by the two methods did not show any significant differences and the quality of the images obtained by the traditional method was found on average to be higher. In conclusion we believe that the use of second harmonic imaging for studies of the fetal heart does not seem to offer any advantages with respect to the conventional method.