Computerized nuchal translucency three dimensional reconstruction, visualization and measurement for trisomy 21 prenatal early assessment

Abstract

Conventionally, measurement of ultrasonic marker, nuchal translucency or NT is accomplished by manual assessment in two dimensional ultrasound images for trisomy 21 early detection. Nonetheless, the efficiency of 2D measurement depends heavily on the image position and any deviation will prompt inaccurate measurement. Therefore, in this paper we proposed the reconstruction, visualization and measurement of nuchal translucency using three dimensional approaches for real time computation. Open-source visualization toolkit VTK was implemented for 3D interactive graphics supports. The methodology entails the virtual slider cutting plane to explicit the internal structure of ultrasound marker. It is concluded in our findings that 3D measurements of nuchal translucency provide higher accuracy and consistency of thickness measurement.