Clinical Protocol and Interpretation of Fetal Echocardiography Examination

Congenital heart diseases (CHD) are a kind of defects of the heart and great vessels, which have high disabilities and high mortalities and are a serious threat to human health. Fetal echocardiography is a crucial noninvasive technique to screen and diagnose CHD. Fetal echocardiography can be started at the 18-22 gestational week, and be periodically reviewed during the gestation. Now fetal echocardiography examination includes two-dimensional, color Doppler and spectral Doppler imaging. Spatio-temporal image correlation (STIC) is an advanced technique based on two-dimensional echocardiography and has multiple imaging models. STIC technique shows cardiovascular spatial relations and morphologies for the diagnosis of CHD. Standardized fetal echocardiography and professional explanation are very important and helpful to provide optimal consultation and clinical management, to avoid the loss of operative opportunity due to delayed diagnosis, to decrease the birth of infants with fatal CHD, which has clinical value and social meaning.