ad. 35. 3D ultrasound: is it just a trend or something more?

A commonly known use of a 3D in ultrasound is a so-called baby face, i.e. a type of imaging of a surface which allows for a preview of a baby’s face, mouth movement, limbs or sexual organs. It has nothing in common with the real concept and purpose of a 3D ultrasonography, but is often only a neat addition to an examination. Medical, 3D ultrasound scan consists in storing a baby’s body or woman’s reproductive organ in a form of volume blocks and analyzing downloaded data off-line, without participation of a patient, using expert computer software. In the world, 3D techniques found their application in specifying a diagnosis in case of detected defects of a fetus and in gynecological examinations. In Poland, only few centres employ them in full scope. At our centre, 3D ultrasound is an essential element of a scan, mainly in cases of complex fetal defects, congenital defects and reproductive organ pathologies. In extremely rare cases, an analysis of stored data takes place without a patient. Then, we compare images on the basis of our own record and volumes concerning complex anomalies. This allows to fully minimize a patient’s discomfort connected with an examination concerning an assessment of anomalies.