Prospective assessment of reproducibility of three-dimensional ultrasound for fetal biometry

To compare fetal ultrasound measurements performed by two observers with different levels of experience and evaluate the potential contribution of the use of three-dimensional (3D) ultrasound on repeatability, reproducibility and agreement of two-dimensional (2D) and 3D-derived measurements.

Two observers (one senior and one junior) measured head circumference (HC), abdominal circumference (AC) and femur length (FL) in 33 fetuses (20 to 40 weeks of gestation). Each observer performed two series of 2D measurements and two series of 3D measurements (i.e., measurements derived from triplane volume processing). Measurements were converted into Z-scores according to gestational age. Variability between the different series of measurements was studied using Bland-Altmann plots and intra-class correlation coefficients (ICC).

Agreement with the 2D measurements of the senior observer was higher in 3D than in 2D for the junior observer (systematic differences of -0.4, -0.2 and -0.8 Z-score vs. -0.1, -0.1 and -0.6 for HC, AC and FL on 2D and 3D datasets, respectively). The use of 3D ultrasound improved junior observer repeatability (ICC=0.94, 0.88, 0.90 vs. 0.94, 0.94 and 0.96 for HC, AC and FL in 2D and 3D, respectively). The reproducibility was greater using the junior observer 3D datasets (ICC=0.75, 0.60 and 0.45 vs. 0.79, 0.89 and 0.63 for HC, AC and FL, respectively).

The use of 3D ultrasound improves the consistency of the measurements performed by a junior observer and increases the overall repeatability and reproducibility of measurements performed by observers with different levels of experience.