Search

Introduction: This study aimed to evaluate the quality of the brain volumes acquired following an evidence-based guideline for the acquisition of brain volumes., Material and Methods: This was a prospective multicenter study. Five centers recruited five cases each, acquiring two volumes per case, at different gestational age ranges. From the collected volumes, 10 operators performed an advanced neurosonography of each case. The evaluable anatomic structures were counted in each volume and expressed as a percentage. The results were compared with those obtained in a previous study where no recommendations had been made for the acquisition of the volumes., Results: Five hundred evaluations were included in the study. In the axial plane, 91.5% of the structures were satisfactorily evaluated, 81.8% in the coronal plane and 89.9% in the sagittal plane. These results were significantly better than those obtained in a previous study where the volumes had been acquired without any guidelines and the percentage of evaluable structures were 80% (P < .001), 67.1% (P < .001) and 55.1% (P < .001) in the axial, coronal and sagittal planes, respectively., Conclusions: The application of an evidence-based guideline for the acquisition of brain volumes improves the quality of these by increasing the number of evaluable structures in the volume., (© 2020 Nordic Federation of Societies of Obstetrics and Gynecology (NFOG). Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Objective: To evaluate the acquisition-related factors influencing the quality of the brain volumes for further study of advanced neurosonography., Methods: This was a prospective multicentre study. Five centres were asked to include five cases each, acquiring two volumes per case, at different gestational ages. Ten operators performed an advanced neurosonography per case. The potential influence of the following factors on the number of evaluable structures was assessed: vaginal/ abdominal acquisition, position of the head, gestational age, subjective quality of the volume and the acquiring operator itself., Results: Four hundred and thirty-two evaluations were included in the study. A total of 80% of the structures were evaluated satisfactorily in the axial plane, 67.1% and 55.1% in the coronal and sagittal plane, respectively. Sagittal volumes acquired transvaginally had a better quality than those acquired transabdominally. Gestational age affected the quality of axial and sagittal volumes (p < 0.001), and the best quality was obtained between 20 and 27 weeks. In axial and sagittal volumes, the head position influenced the percentage of structures visualized (p < 0.001, p < 0.001)., Conclusions: Factors affecting the quality of the volume for advanced neurosonography are gestational age, fetal head position, transvaginal acquisition in sagittal volumes, the acquiring operator and the subjective quality of the volume. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., (© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)