The Use of Three-Dimensional Ultrasound in the Antenatal Care

Abstract

Introduction: There is a current belief that 3D ultrasound is a time-saving technique that can play an important role in the future. However, it is not obvious what the clinical significance of the additional data is provided by 3D ultrasound imaging. This review aimed to evaluate the evidence assessing the accuracy of 3D ultrasound, in antenatal care in different populations at different pregnancy trimesters.
Methods: We performed a systematic literature search of the MEDLINE and EMBASE databases. The detected citations from several databases were combined and duplicate articles were excluded. The titles and abstracts of all selected publications were inspected for relevance based on the following inclusion criteria: Members of these populations had already passed the primary care stage, were clinically suspected or confirmed as having a fetal deformity, and had been referred for further evaluation ('high-risk population study').
Results: The literature search yielded 45 citations. There was no disagreement between the two assessors regarding the inclusion of studies. The initial screening by title identified 33 abstracts that were potentially relevant. In total 27 studies met all the inclusion criteria as well as the internal and external validity criteria. Variability in the design and results of the selected studies were based on the type of the included communities. Among included studies, 21 studies consisted of unselected population-based groups of pregnant women ('low-risk population study'), and six studies dealt with a population with a positive family history and/or pre-screened fetuses who were suspected to have anomalies.
Conclusions: This review confirms that studies reporting on the accuracy of 2D ultrasound in detecting cleft lip and/or palate in low-risk populations demonstrate a wide variety of diagnostic accuracy.