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Updated: Nov 8, 2025
A Novel Use of Three-dimensional High-frequency Ultrasonography for Early Pregnancy Characterization in the Mouse
Published on: October 24, 2017
Ultrasonographic study of fetal facial profile markers during the first trimester
Chunya Ji1, Xiaoli Jiang1, Linliang Yin2
1Center for Medical Ultrasound, The Affiliated Suzhou Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Suzhou Municipal Hospital, No. 26 Daoqian Street, 215002, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Background:
To establish reference ranges of fetal facial profile markers and study their correlations with crown-rump length (CRL) during the first trimester (11 ~ 13+ 6 weeks' gestation) in a Chinese population.
Methods:
Ultrasonographic images of measuring fetal nuchal translucency (NT) were retrospectively selected randomly in normal fetuses whose parents were both Chinese. The facial markers included inferior facial angle (IFA), maxilla-nasion-mandible (MNM) angle, facial maxillary angle (FMA) and profile line (PL) distance. These markers were measured through ViewPoint 6 software by two experienced sonographers.
Results:
Three hundred and eighty fetuses were selected. The ICCs (95 % CI) of intra-operator 1 reproducibility of IFA, MNM angle, FMA, PL distance were 0.944 (0.886 ~ 0.973), 0.804 (0.629 ~ 0.902), 0.834 (0.68 ~ 0.918) and 0.935 (0.868 ~ 0.969), respectively. The ICCs (95 % CI) of intra-operator 2 reproducibility of IFA, MNM angle, FMA, PL distance were 0.931 (0.857 ~ 0.967), 0.809 (0.637 ~ 0.904), 0.786 (0.600 ~ 0.892) and 0.906 (0.813 ~ 0.954), respectively. The ICCs (95 % CI) of inter-operator reproducibility of IFA, MNM angle, FMA, PL distance were 0.885 (0.663 ~ 0.953), 0.829 (0.672 ~ 0.915), 0.77 (0.511 ~ 0.891) and 0.844 (0.68 ~ 0.925), respectively. The average ± SD of IFA, MNM angle, FMA and PL distance were 80.2°±7.25°, 4.17°±1.19°, 75.36°±5.31°, 2.78 ± 0.54 mm, respectively. IFA and PL distance significantly decreased with CRL, while MNM angle and FMA significantly increased with CRL.
Conclusions:
It was feasible to measure fetal facial markers during the first trimester. In Chinese population, the reference ranges of IFA, MNM angle, FMA and PL distance were 80.2°±7.25°, 4.17°±1.19°, 75.36°±5.31°, 2.78 ± 0.54 mm, respectively, and the measurements were found to correlate with CRL.
