title: Value of sagittal color Doppler ultrasonography as a supplementary tool in the differential diagnosis of fetal cleft lip and palate.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of sagittal color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) for the diagnosis of fetal cleft lip (CL) and cleft palate (CP).
  
  
  METHODS
  We performed targeted ultrasonography on 25 fetuses with CL and CP, taking coronal and axial images of the upper lip and maxillary alveolar arch in each case. The existence of defects in and malalignment of the alveolus on the axial image, hard palate defects on the midsagittal image, and flow-through defects on CDUS taken during fetal breathing or swallowing were assessed. We compared the ultrasonography findings with postnatal findings in all fetuses.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Alveolar defects were detected in 16 out of 17 cases with CP and four out of eight cases with CL. Alveolar malalignment and hard palate defects were detected in 11 out of 17 cases and 14 out of 17 cases with CP, respectively, but not detected in any cases with CL. Communicating flow through the palate defect was detected in 11 out of 17 cases of CL with CP. The accuracy of detection in axial scans of an alveolar defect and malalignment was 80% and 76%, respectively. Accuracy of detection of in mid-sagittal images of hard palate defect and flow was 80% and 86%, respectively. The overall diagnostic accuracy of combined axial and sagittal images with sagittal CDUS was 92%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Sagittal CDUS of the fetal hard palate is a feasible method to directly reveal hard palate bony defects and flow through defects, which may have additional value in the differential diagnosis of fetal CL and CP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Seoul Metropolitan Government-Seoul National University Boramae Medical Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Myoung Seok
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5285-4874
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.|College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Yeon
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8659-0918
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Cho
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sang Youn
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-4038-7345
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.|College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Seung Hyup
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-9339-5907
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Joong Shin
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-5246-0477
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Park
authors.affiliation: College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.|Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Seoul National University Hospital, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jong Kwan
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-0242-1736
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Jun
keywords: Cleft lip; Cleft palate; Congenital abnormalities; Ultrasonography, Doppler, color; Ultrasonography, prenatal