Value of fetal intelligent navigation echocardiography (5D heart) and Virtual Intelligent Sonographer Assistance (VIS-Assistance®) in the display of key diagnostic elements in basic fetal echocardiographic views

Abstract

Objective To evaluate the value of fetal intelligent navigation echocardiography (5D Heart) and Virtual Intelligent Sonographer Assistance (VIS-Assistance®) in the display of key diagnostic elements in basic fetal echocardiographic views. Methods The heart volumes data of 209 normal fetuses were collected and then the offline analysis was conducted. Processing of the built-in VIS-Assistance® for each diagnosis plane was optimized. The display success rate and image quality difference of diagnosis images and diagnosis elements before and after the VIS-Assistance® processing as well as the repeatability between observers were analyzed and compared. Results Totally 262 fetal heart volume data were collected from 209 fetuses,and 231 volume data of 182 cases could be used for the analysis,with the acquiring success rate of 88.2%. For the display rate of 8 diagnosis sections of the 231 fetal heart volume data before and after VIS-Assistance® processing,abdominal transverse section at stomach level showed no significant difference,while the other diagnostic sections showed significant differences (all P<0.05),and the display rate after the processing was higher than that before the processing. For the image quality scores of diagnosis sections before and after VIS-Assistance® processing,abdominal transverse section at stomach level showed no significant differences,while other diagnostic sections showed significant differences (all P<0.01),and the image quality scores after the processing were higher than those before the processing. According to Bland-Altman analysis,95% credibility interval of the total scores of 8 sections measured by different observers before and after VIS-Assistance® were (-0.17/+ 0.18) and (-0.17/+ 0.18),respectively,6.06% (14/231) and 3.89% (9/231) of the points were outside the 95% credibility interval,and the rest had high consistency. Conclusions 5D Heart and VIS-Assistance® technology can significantly improve the display rate of diagnostic section and image quality of element structures,and has high reliability and repeatability in obtaining fetal cardiac diagnosis sections and displaying fetal elemental diagnostic information. Key words: Echocardiography; Heart difects,congenital; Fetus; Spatiotemporal image correlation