(STIC) 4D fetal heart ultrasound
STIC Color 4D Fetal Heart Ultrasound

Eight out of eight thousand babies are born with some congenital heart defect. These anomalies are the result of abnormal heart development during pregnancy and may involve defects of a baby’s heart walls, valves, or incoming and/or outgoing blood vessels.

More frequent risk factors of a congenital cardiopathy include diabetic mother, toxoplasmosis, German measles, relatives with heart diseases, drinking alcohol, taking drugs, and repeated abortions.

“Some heart diseases cause serious problems in newborns who require urgent treatment, typically surgery,” says Dr. Rafael Ascenzo Aparicio, specialist in fetal ultrasound and Director of Instituto Ginecología y Fertilidad – Clínca Miraflores.

STIC is a new technology and stands for Spatial-Temporal Imagine Correlation. This technology visualizes colored volumetric images of the baby’s heart from multiple planes (multiplanar) and stores complete sets of data not only of the fetus’s heart but also of the adjacent area. Motion is added to achieve color 4D STIC.

Additionally, all data collected can be saved digitally and the files may be sent to remote locations for continual examination and discussion with experts in fetal cardiology to facilitate and improve diagnosis –what is now known as telemedicine.

By adding color Doppler to the above we can assess blood flow rate and direction, which has important clinical advantages as the physician may assess both anatomy and dynamic flow at the same time.

“By using this novel technology, unique in our country (COLOR STIC) the cardiac cycle may be enlarged, seen on frame-by-frame basis, in slow motion, the image may be moved volumetrically or rotated 360 degrees, etc., all of which improve diagnostic capabilities and provides a more accurate diagnosis of simple and complex fetal heart diseases,” explains Dr. Rafael Ascenzo.

Video Gallery:

STIC Color 4D fetal heart ultrasound