title: Contemporary clinical applications of spatio-temporal image correlation in prenatal diagnosis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Four-dimensional fetal echocardiography has the potential to reduce the operator dependency of two-dimensional ultrasonography and increase the detection rate of congenital heart defects (CHDs). This review is intended to summarize recent evidence of the important role that four-dimensional ultrasonography with spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) may play in the prenatal diagnosis of CHDs.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC may provide the opportunity for telemedicine in the prenatal diagnosis of CHDs because four-dimensional volume datasets can be remotely acquired and accurately interpreted by different centers. Four-dimensional ultrasonography with STIC is an accurate and reproducible technique for the prenatal diagnosis of CHDs. Different four-dimensional rendering techniques can provide important insight into the spatial relationships of normal and abnormal fetal vascular structures.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Four-dimensional fetal echocardiography with STIC may facilitate the examination of the fetal heart and could potentially increase the detection rate of CHDs.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan, USA. jimmy.espinoza@beaumont.edu
authors.forename: Jimmy
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Espinoza
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D019561:Echocardiography, Four-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D005318:Fetal Heart / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000379:methods*; D009774:Obstetrics / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D011296:Prenatal Diagnosis / Q000379:methods*; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal / Q000379:methods*