Second trimester screening for the basilar artery: a new approach using slowflowHD

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Fetal Ultrasound
• Neurosonography

Background:

• Prenatal sonographic evaluation of the basilar artery is challenging due to technical difficulties with probe manipulation.
• Limited data exists on basilar artery assessment during the prenatal period.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a novel transabdominal sonographic approach using slow-flow High Definition (HD) imaging for fetal basilar artery screening.
• To establish feasibility and preliminary findings for basilar artery assessment in the second trimester.

Main Methods:

• A total of 49 women undergoing second-trimester screening were included.
• A transabdominal approach with slow-flow HD ultrasound was employed to visualize the basilar artery, identifying the "Y" sign.
• Doppler velocimetry was used to measure peak systolic velocity (PSV) in the basilar artery.

Main Results:

• The basilar artery was successfully identified in all 49 fetuses (gestational age 20-26 weeks).
• The mean PSV of the basilar artery was 15.8 cm/second.
• A slight increase in PSV was observed with advancing gestational age.

Conclusions:

• A new transabdominal sonographic approach utilizing slow-flow HD imaging enables effective evaluation of the fetal basilar artery.
• This method is feasible for screening the basilar artery during the second trimester scan.