Ultrasonographic Characteristics of Cortical Sulcus Development in the Human Fetus between 18 and 41 Weeks of Gestation / 中华医学杂志(英文版)

<p><b>BACKGROUND</b>Fetal brain development is a complicated process that continues throughout pregnancy. Fetal sulcus development has typical morphological features. Assessment of fetal sulcus development to understand the cortical maturation and development by prenatal ultrasound has become widespread. This study aimed to explore a reliable method to assess cortical sulcus and to describe the normal sonographic features of cortical sulcus development in the human fetus between 18 and 41 weeks of gestation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>A cross-sectional study was designed to examine the fetal cortical sulcus development at 18-41 weeks of gestation. Ultrasound was used to examine the insula, sylvian fissure (SF), parieto-occipital fissure (POF), and calcarine fissure (CF). Bland-Altman plots were used for assessing the concordance, and the intraclass correlation coefficient was used for assessing the reliability.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>SF images were successfully obtained in 100% of participants at 22 weeks of gestation, while the POF images and CF images could be obtained in 100% at 23 weeks of gestation and 24 weeks of gestation, respectively. The SF width, temporal lobe depth, POF depth, and the CF depth increased with the developed gestation. The width of uncovered insula and the POF angle decreased with the developed gestation. By 23 weeks of gestation, the insula was beginning to be covered. Moreover, it completed at 35 weeks of gestation. The intra- and inter-observer agreements showed consistent reproducibility.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>This study defined standard views of the fetal sulcus as well as the normal reference ranges of these sulcus measurements between 18 and 41 weeks of gestation. Such ultrasonographic measurements could be used to identify fetuses at risk of fetal neurological structural disorders.</p>

A prenatal ultrasound study of cerebral sulci and gyrus development in fetuses with tetralogy of Fallot / 南方医科大学学报

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To evaluate the development of the cerebral sulci and gyrus and cerebral blood flow in fetuses with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) in the second and third trimesters using ultrasound imaging.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Forty fetuses (23-33weeks) with ToF diagnosed using ultrasound imaging between December, 2015 and September, 2016 were analyzed in this study. The development of the cerebral sulci and gyrus was evaluated by measuring the parietal-occipital fissure (POF) depth, POF angle, sylvian fissure (SF) depth, SF width, uncovered insular width, calcarine fissure (CF) depth, hemisphere depth on the views of POF, SF and CF, uncovered insular ratio, biparietal diameter (BPD), and head circumference (HC). Cerebral hemodynamics were assessed by measuring the umbilical artery resistance index, umbilical artery pulsation index, middle cerebral artery pulsation index (MCA-PI), middle cerebral artery resistance index, the cerebral-to-placental resistance ratio, and the cerebroplacental ratio.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>In ToF fetuses, the POF depth, SF depth, CF depth, BPD, HC and hemisphere depth on the views of parietal-occipital sulcus and calcarine sulcus were significantly smaller than those in the control group (P<0.05). The middle cerebral artery resistance index, middle cerebral artery pulsation index, the cerebral-to-placental resistance ratio and the cerebroplacental ratio were also significantly lower in ToF fetuses than in the control group (P<0.05).</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>The cerebral sulci and gyrus in ToF fetuses in second and third trimesters show underdevelopment compared with those in normal fetuses, and the changes in hemodynamics caused by abnormal cardiac structure might be one of the reasons for cerebral sulci and gyrus underdevelopment in fetuses with ToF.</p>

Examination of infant bone status with quantitative ultrasound at birth / 中华儿科杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>Quantitative ultrasound (QUS) is a new method of evaluating Children's bone status, including bone mineral density and bone strength. The bone nutrition during fetal and early neonatal period is very important for the human bone development of whole life. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical application of QUS for newborn infants and to obtain the QUS data for normal neonates including premature infants.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>An ultrasound bone sonometer, Omnisense, produced by Sunlight company of Israel, was applied to measure the bone speed of sound (SOS) of tibia in 157 neonates including 68 premature infants in the first week of life.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>(1) No significant difference in SOS was found between male (n = 88, SOS = 2968 +/- 115 m/s) and female infants (n = 69, SOS = 2956 +/- 105 m/s) (P = 0.524). The SOS of premature infants (n = 68, mean gestational age 33.0 +/- 2.5 weeks) and full-term infants (n = 89, mean gestational age of 39.4 +/- 1.3 weeks) were 2935 +/- 96 m/s and 2984 +/- 116 m/s, respectively, at birth and there was significant difference between them (P = 0.005). (2) There were significant differences of SOS in neonates who were born in different seasons (F = 4.377, P = 0.005); the significant difference remained (F = 3.933, P = 0.010) after the influences of gestational age and birth weight were eliminated. The SOS in neonates born in spring (March, April and May) and summer (June, July and August) were significantly lower than that of those born in autumn (September, October and November) and winter (December, January and February). The SOS in neonates born in summer was about 2.3% (75/2999) was lower than that of those born in winter. (3) Significant difference of SOS was observed between neonates with different birth weight [< 1500 g (n = 11), SOS = 2968 +/- 115 m/s; and > 2500 g (n = 86), SOS = 2980 +/- 113 m/s; P = 0.042]. (4) Significant correlations were found between SOS and gestational age (r = 0.270, P = 0.005), and between bone SOS and birth weight (r = 0.232, P = 0.015) in appropriate for gestational age (AGA) infants (n = 109); however, no such significant correlations were found in small for gestational age (SGA) infants or large for gestational age (LGA) infants. Multiple regression analysis showed that gestational age and the birth season were two important factors which may contribute to bone SOS of neonates at birth (n = 157, F = 8.515, P < 0.001, adjusted R(2) = 0.141), when the analysis was carried out with SOS as dependent variable and gestational age, birth weight, chronological age, calf length and the birth season as independent variables.</p><p><b>CONCLUSION</b>QUS is a new method which is suitable for evaluating the bone status of neonates and it is free of radiation, non-invasive, the machine is portable and easy to manipulate at infant bed side. The present study suggests the need for particular care for the bone status in premature infants and supplement of vitamin D in pregnant women.</p>