Reproducibility of ultrasonic measurement of fetal cardiac haemodynamics

Two observers made independent estimates of volume flow across all four heart valves in 27 fetuses using a combination of cross-sectional and Doppler echocardiography. There were considerable discrepancies between observers in volume flow estimation arising from inconsistency both in cross-sectional and in Doppler measurements. One observer also produced a second estimate by making new measurements from the original recordings. There was considerable within-observer variability which was mainly due to errors in cross-sectional measurements. The problems of applying this technique to fetal cardiac haemodynamics are discussed.