Fetal cardiac stroke volume determination by four-dimensional ultrasound with spatio-temporal image correlation compared with two-dimensional and Doppler ultrasonography.

OBJECTIVE

To assess the agreement of stroke volume (SV) measured with two-dimensional (2D) ultrasonography with Doppler capability (vs) four-dimensional (4D) with spatiotemporal image correlation (STIC) in normal and growth restricted fetuses.

METHODS

2D Doppler and 4D STIC were used to measure SV of 40 normal fetuses at 20 to 22 and 28 to 32 weeks, and 16 growth-restricted fetuses at 26 to 34 weeks of gestation. Intraclass correlation was used to evaluate the agreement between left and right SV obtained by the two techniques, and proportionate Bland-Altman plots constructed. The time necessary to obtain SV was analyzed.

RESULTS

The intraclass correlation coefficient between 2D Doppler and 4D STIC measurements for the left ventricle were 0.977 and 0.980 for the right ventricle. The proportionate limits of agreement between the two methods were 18.7 to 23.9% for the left ventricle and - 20.9 to 21.7% for the right ventricle. The time necessary to measure SV was significantly shorter with 4D STIC (3.1 (vs) 7.9 min p < 0.0001) than with 2D Doppler.

CONCLUSIONS

There is a good agreement between SV measured either by 2D Doppler or by 4D STIC. The 4D STIC represents a simple and rapid technique to estimate fetal SV and promises to become the method of choice.